-u^f- 







^p ^Mtin QMinson 



NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMER- 
ICA. With Bibliographical and Descriptive Essays on 
its Historical Sources and Authorities. Profusely illus- 
trated with portraits, maps, facsimiles, etc. Edited by 
Justin Winsor, Librarian of Harvard University, with 
the cooperation of a Committee from the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, and with the aid of other learned 
Societies. In eight royal 8vo volumes. Each volume, 
»ei> $5-5°; sheep, net, J6.50; half morocco, net, ^7.50. 
{Sold only by subscription for the entire set.) 

READER'S HANDBOOK OF THE AMERICAN REV- 
OLUTION. i6mo, $1.25. 

WAS SHAKESPEARE SHAPLEIGH? i6mo, rubri- 
cated parchment paper, 75 cents. 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, and how he received and 
imparted the Spirit of Discovery. With portraits and 
maps. 8vo, gilt top, $4.00. 

CARTIER TO FRONTENAC. A Study of Geographical 
Discovery in the interior of North America, in its his- 
torical relations, 1534-1700. With full cartographical 
Illustrations from Contemporary Sources. 8vo, gilt 
top, J4.00. 

THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. The Struggle in America be- 
tween England and France, 1697-1763. With full car- 
tographical Illustrations from Contemporary Sources. 
8vo, gilt top, $4.00. 

THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT: The Struggle for the 
Trans-Allegheny Region, 1763-1797. With full carto- 
graphical Illustrations from Contemporary Sources. 
8vo, $4.00. 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, 
Boston and New York. 



d)e iWisstssippt Basin 




THE 

STRUGGLE IN AMERICA 

BETWEEN ENGLAND 

AND FRANCE 

1697— 1763 



WITH FULL CARTOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS FROM CONTEMPORARY SOURCES 



BY 



JUSTIN WINSOR 



BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 



Copyright, 1895, 
Bt JUSTIN WINSOR. 

All rights reserved. 






To 
CLEMENTS EGBERT MARKHAM, C. B., F. R. S. 

Pbesident of the Royal Geogkaphical Society, London. 



Deab Mb. Mabkham, — 

Such an observer as you are knows how the physiography of a conti- 
nent influences its history ; how it opens avenues of discovery, directs 
lines of settlement, and gives to the natural rulers of the earth their 
coign of vantage. I would not say that there are not other compelling 
influences ; but no other control is so steady. If we appreciate such a 
dominating power in subjecting the earth to man's uses, we cannot be 
far from discerning the pith of history, particularly of those periods 
which show the work of pioneers. 

The society over which you hold so signal an authority gives itself 
to the study of geography as elucidating many problems in man's des- 
tiny. There is, then, a fitness, I trust, in your accepting this homage 
from one who is enrolled in that society's foreign membership, and 
also is your friend and servant, 



Harvard UNivERsrtY, 
March, 1895. 




CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Mississippi Basin at the End of the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury ^ 1 

Illustrations : The Natchez Country, after Danville (1732), 7 ; 
The Upper Mississippi and the Mille Lacs Region, after Hum- 
phreys and Abbot (1861), 9 ; The Ohio Basin, after the Same, 19 ; 
The Green Bay Portage, after Marcel's Reproductions, 23 ; Col- 
den's Map, showing the Northern Portages, 25 ; The Divide 
between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Basin, by Hum- 
phreys and Abbot, 27 ; The Northern Portages in Joliet's Time, 
after Marcel's Reproductions, 28, 29 ; The Heads of the Yellow- 
stone and Snake Rivers, after Humphreys and Abbot, 31. 

CHAPTER IL 

Iberville's Expedition. 1697-1700 33 

Illustrations : The Mississippi in La Salle's Time, 34 ; The Gulf 
Coast defectively mapped (1728), 35 ; Portrait of Iberville, 37 ; 
Roggeveen's Map of the Gulf Coast (1675), 39 ; The Lower 
Mississippi Basin, after Humphreys and Abbot (1861), 41 ; 
Coxe's Map of Carolana (1722), 44, 45 ; Mitchell's Map (1755) 
of Colonel Welch's Route (1698), 47 ; Danville's Carte de 
la Louisiane, 49 ; Jefferys' Lower Mississippi (1759), 50 ; 
Homann's Lower Mississippi with Tonty's Route, 51 ; Jefferys' 
Map of Fort L'Huillier and the Trail to the Pawnees, 53 ; La 
Salle's and Iberville's Explorations, 55 ; Portrait of Bienville, 
67 ; Danville's Map of the Gulf Coast (1732), 69. 

CHAPTER IIL 

Throughout the Valley. 1700-1709 61 

Illustrations : Delisle's Map of the Gulf Coast, 75 ; Franque- 
lin's Map of the Mississippi, 77 ; La Potherie's Carte Generalle 
de la Nouvelle France (1722), 79 ; The Mille Lacs Region, 81 ; 
La Hontan's Rivifere Longue, 82. 



VI CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Crozat and Trade. 1710-1719 83 

Illustrations : French Soldiers (1710), 84 ; Red River Basin, 
after Humphreys and Abbot's Basins of the Mississippi (1861), 
89 ; Broutin's Carte des Natchitoches (1722), 91 ; Homann's 
Map (1720), showing the Routes of St. Denis, 93 ; The Red 
River Region, after Danville's Louisiane, 95 ; Quivira, etc., by 
Palairet and Delaroche, 97. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Mississippi Bubble. 1714^1720 99 

Illustrations : Portrait of John Law, 100 ; Bill of the Banque 
Royale, 103 ; Country of the Padoucas, etc., 105 ; Law's Map of 
Louisiana, 107 ; Arms of the Mississippi Company, 107 ; 
Quinquempoix, 109. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Barriers of Louisiana. 1710-1720 Ill 

Illustrations : The Upper Mississippi, from the Gentleman's 
Magazine (1763), 113 ; The Great Lake of the West, from Pop- 
ple's Map (1732), 113 ; Danville's Map of the Upper Lakes, 
117 ; Map of the Illinois Country, 119; Kaskaskia and its Vicin- 
ity, 121 ; Governor Spotswood's Route to the Valley of Virginia, 
129 ; Indian Map of Traders' Paths, 132. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

Charlevoix and his Observations. 1720-1729 136 

Illustrations : Lafitau's Map of North America, 137 ; De Fer's 
Map of Santa Fd and the Far Country, 139 ; The Missouri and 
the Country of the Padoucas, by Bowen and Gibson, 140 ; Dr. 
James Smith's Map of Louisiana, 142, 143 ; Danville's Upper 
Mississippi, 147 ; Dumont's Plan of New Orleans, 151 ; The 
Middle Mississippi, by Bowen and Gibson, 153 ; Mitchell's Map 
of the Ceuis' Country, 155. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Along the Appalachians. 1720-1727 160 

Illustration : The Indian Trail from the Shenandoah, 169. 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. vu 



CHAPTER IX. 

The RrrALRiES of France, England, and Spain. 1730-1740 . . 171 
Illustrations : Keith's Map of Virginia, 181 ; Fort Rosalie and 
Vicinity, 189. 

CHAPTER X. 

The Search for the Sea of the West. 1727-1753 193 

Illustrations : Jefferys' Map of Vdrendrye's Forts and the 
River of the West, 195 ; Bowen and Gibson's Sioux Country, 
(1763), 197 ; Vaugondy's Amerique Septentrionale (1750), 205 ; 
Buache's Mer de VOuest (1752), 207 ; Delisle's Carte d'Ame- 
rique (1722), 208 ; Buache's Mer de VOuest (1752), 209 ; Le 
Rouge's River of the West (1746), 215. 



CHAPTER XL 

War and Truce. 1741-1748 218 

Illustration : Kitchin's Map of the French Settlements (1747), 
226, 227. 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Portals of the Ohio Valley. 1740-1749 229 

Illustrations : Parts of Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, 
231, 233, 237; Lewis Evans's Map of Peiisilvania (1749), 240, 
241 ; Evans's Middle British Colonies (1758), 244, 245 ; An- 
drews's New Map of the United States (1783), 247 ; One of 
Celeron's Plates, 253 ; Map of C<!loron's March, 256, 257. 

CHAPTER XIIL 

Louisiana and its Indians. 1743-1757 259 

Illustrations : Map of the Erie Portages, 261 ; Adair's Map of 
the Indian Nations, 262, 263 ; Dumont's Chickasaw and Choc- 
taw Country, 265 ; Danville's North America, showing Position 
of Southern Tribes, 267 ; Le Page du Pratz's Map (1757), 269 ; 
Timberlake's Cherokee Country, 270 ; Indian Map, by Kitchin, 
of the Cherokee Country, 272, 273 ; Covens and Mortier's 
Cherokee Country (1758), 275. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Undeclared War. 1750-1754 277 

Illustrations : Boundary of Carolina and Virginia, 278 ; 
Mitchell's Frontier Settlements (1775), 281 ; Colonel Cresap's 



Vlil CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Map of the Sources of the Potomac, 283 ; Mitchell's Map of 
the Route of Christophey Gist, 291 ; Danville's Ohio Valley, 295 ; 
Hutchins's Rapids of the Ohio, 296 ; Howell's Map of the 
French Creek Route, 297 ; Sketch of the French Creek Route, 
298, 299 ; Le Rouge's Map of the Route from Duquesne, 301 ; 
Evans's Middle British Colonies, corrected by Powuall, 304, 305 ; 
Part of Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, 313. 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Rival Claimants for North America. 1497-1755. . . . 316 

Illustrations : Map from the Memoires des Commissaires du Roi 
(1757), 319, 320, 321 ; Part of Bowen and Gibson's North 
America (1763), 328, 329 ; Mitchell's Map of the Wabash River 
(1755), 333. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Anxieties and Plans of 1754 338 

Illustration : Charles Thomson's Map, 345. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Alleghany Portals. 1755 352 

Illustration : Jefferys' Map of Braddock's March, 358, 359. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Two Dismal Years, 1756, 1757 372 

Illustrations : Pouchot's Map of the Frontiers, 375 ; Emanuel 
Bowen's Map of the Country of the Southern Indians, 383. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Ohio and St. Lawrence won. 1758-1759 385 

Illustrations : Plan of Fort Duquesne, 391 ; Fort Massac and 
Vicinity, 392 ; The Lower Ohio, 393. 

CHAPTER XX. 
The Transition from War to War. 1760-1762 403 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Treaty of Peace. 1762-1763 415 

Illustrations : Jefferys' Map of the Proposed Neutral Territory, 
416 ; Jefferys' Map of the Canadian Northwest, 421 ; Part of 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ix 

the Map of the Compagnie Frangoise, 423 ; Vander Aa's 
Canada, 425 ; Map of North America, from the Gentleman's 
Magazine (December, 1755), 427 ; Jefferys' Map of Lake Win- 
nipeg and the River of the West, 429. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Effect upon the Indians. 1763-1765 432 

Illustrations : Map of Bouquet's Campaign in Smith's Histori- 
cal Account, 435 ; Hutchins's Survey of Bouquet's Route, 436, 
437 ; Scull's Map of the Monongahela Valley, 439 ; Portrait of 
Henry Bouquet, 443. 

CHAPTER XXni. 

Occupation Completed. 1764, 1765 447 

Illustrations : Jefferys' Map of the Coast of the Gulf of 
Mexico (1768), 448, 449 ; Ross's Course of the Mississippi 
(1775), 450 ; Callot's Town and Fort of Natchez, 451 ; Callot's 
View of the Fort at Natchez, 453 ; Callot's Map of Kaskaskia 
and Fort Chartres, 458, 459 ; Thomas Hutchins's Villages in the 
Illinois Country, 460 ; Ross's Vicinity of Fort Chartres and Kas- 
kaskia, 461 ; A French House among the Illinois (Callot), 463. 

Index , 465 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 



CHAPTEE I. 

THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH 

CENTURY. 

The seventeenth century closed with France prepared to 
profit by the results and influences of more than a hundred and 
sixty years of exploration in the interior of North America. 

On the eastern seaboard of the continent the claims of France 
arising from the voyage of Verrazano had availed lit- 
tle, thouo'h Louis XIV. had strenuously asserted them. The rival 

' <^ ... claimants. 

The Spaniards of those days guarded their capricious 
rights from Florida northward. The English, taking advan- 
tage of the close attention bestowed by France upon intestine 
affairs during her civil wars, had begun a settlement on the 
North Carolina coast. This was almost coincident with the de- 
feat of the Great Armada, that first serious setback to Spanish 
pride. The century which followed saw the English well estab- 
lished along the Atlantic shores of North America. In 1688, 
the revolution which put WiUiam of Orange on the English 
throne opened the way for a long conflict with France, nowhere 
more warily pursued than in the New World. By the close of 
the seventeenth century, England was prepared to defend her 
territorial claims from Spanish Florida on the south, with limits 
in dispute, to Acadia on the north, where there was a like uncer- 
tainty of boundary. The English claim thus covered an extent 
of coast, with an indefinite extension inland, of so varied a 
climate that the average temperature ranged from 42° to 75° 
Fahrenheit. 

In the struggle for the possession of the region about the 



2 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

Gulf of St. Lawrence, though France had contested it with 
The St. England and with Portugal, she had practically ob- 
ancTHSd* tained the mastery, and now held without dispute 
son's Bay. ^jjg^^ grand northern portal of the continent, so essen- 
tial in pressing her claim upon the great interior. 

Farther north, about Hudson's Bay, her rivalry with England 
was brisk, — for it was necessary there to protect the flank of 
her main enterprise on the St. Lawrence, — and at the close 
of the seventeenth century it was at its height. It was a claim 
for and against, on both sides, stoutly advocated and as stoutly 
defended. Between the rivals it was not only a question of 
trade for peltries, vital for France in her system of colonization, 
but it was to decide with whom rested the coveted chance of 
finding in those high latitudes the long-sought passage to the 
western ocean. Already in the closing years of the seventeenth 
century, the leader whom France had most trusted in this north- 
ern conflict was gaining skill and hardihood for a career which 
was soon to be transferred to the mouth of the Mississippi. 

In 1641, Charles Le Moyne, leaving Dieppe, had come to 
Quebec to cast his lot for a while with the Jesuits, 
and Here he raised up a family of distinguished sons, and 

the oldest and youngest bore the appellations respec- 
tively of Iberville and Bienville. The elder was a man of 
nearly thirty when he appeared in command of an expedition 
sent from Quebec to attack the remaining English forts on 
Hudson's Bay. He failed in his purpose, and learning on his 
way back that the Yankee Phips was in the St. Lawrence 
(1690), he bore away his ships to France with what plunder 
he had secured. In the years immediately following, fortune 
varied in the north, — now the French, now the English, got 
the ascendency. In the winter of 1694-95, IberviUe gained 
what had been lost, and a like fortune followed him in a mea- 
sure in 1697. 

Stories told by the Indians, and some papers captured by 

him in Fort Nelson, had inspired him with the hope of finding 

his way through these northern waters to the great western sea, 

but in this he failed, leaving the problem to be intermittently 

attacked with little cessation even to the present day. 

Peace of x •/ 

Ryswick. The pcacc of Ryswick, negotiated in ignorance of the 
French conquests hereabouts, restored in 1697 to the 



ENGLISH CHARTERS, 3 

English all tliey had lost about Hudson's Bay, and Iberville 
was left to final adventures in a new field. 

The death of Frontenac had deprived Canada of a conspicu- 
ous leader, and active spirits, subject to the influence of that 
rugged soldier, turned to other allurements. So Iberville ap- 
pears on the Mississippi. 

The charters which the English king had given, while parcel- 
ing^ out the Atlantic seaboard of the present United 

o -111 1 r- 1 1 English 

otates, earned the bounds or the several grants west- sea-to-sea 
ward to the great ocean supposed to lie somewhere 
beyond the Alleghanies. Though Drake and others had followed 
the Pacific northward to Upper California, the determination 
of longitude was still so uncertain that different estimates pre- 
vailed as to the width of the continent. When the charter of 
Virginia was confirmed in 1609, there was just dying out a con- 
ception which had prevailed among geographers, but which the 
intuitions of Mercator had done much to dispel, that a great 
western sea approached the Atlantic somewhere midway along 
its seaboard. This theory had come down from the ^, „ 

•^ _ _ The Sea of 

voyage of Verrazano. To prove it, various explora- verrazano. 
tions had been made inland from the ramifying waters of the 
Chesapeake and the Hudson. It was with this determination in 
view that Francis^ I. of France had commissioned Cartier to 
pierce the continent from the great gulf back of Newfound- 
land ; and Cartier's success, followed by the later developments 
made by Champlain, Nicollet, Grosseilliers, and Joliet, had 
proved on the contrary the extent of the two great interior 
valleys of North America, and that they stretched over the lati- 
tudes and longitudes supposed to have been the bed of the Ver- 
razano Sea. These explorations had also shown how slight a 
ridge separated the basins of these continental valleys. St. Lus- 
son and Duluth had srone throusrh the formalities of 

. - -r? p ^ The interior 

taking possession for r* ranee of these enormous water- vaiieysand 
sheds near their upper springs, and La Salle had 
planted the arms of France at the mouth of the Mississippi for 
a similar purpose. Thus, by 1665, the French had proved the 
vast westward extent of the St. Lawrence water-system, and had 
made extremely probable the existence of the Mississippi. The 
ultimate discovery of this latter basin could not be avoided 



4 THE MISSISSIPPI BAS1.\. 

when the English, in 1663, insisted in the charter of Carolina on 
territorial rights which reached to the New Albion of Drake. 
This region of the Pacific coast was no longer generally thought 
to lie just beyond the Alleghanies, as British disregard of for- 
eign intelligence, exemplified in the Farrer map of 1651, had 
recently asserted. 

The principles which underlie the rights of discovery were 
Rights of ^^^^ t® bring these rival claims of sovereignty over 
discovery. ^jjg same territory to a sharp encounter, as soon as 
the French had proved that their lines of exj)loration crossed 
these charter bounds of the English. This impending conflict 
was made inevitable by the passage of Joliet and Marquette 
down the Great River to the Arkansas, in 1673, and of La Salle 
to the Gulf of Mexico, in 1681. It was the establishment of 
military posts throughout this vast valley that eventually brought 
on a life-struggle between the English and the French. The 
English pretension was an alleged territorial right derived from 
charters formulated for the most part when the world was ig- 
norant of the limits they conveyed. These charter extensions 
were propped by claims bought from the Iroquois, only less 
substantial, which prompted England to push her pioneers to- 
ward the setting sun and athwart the French course. A large 
part of the history of the Mississippi valley during the eighteenth 
century is the record of a conflict of races which these opposing 
claims engendered. 

The prize contended for was a noble one. In Europe the 
Alps and in Asia the Himalayas shake ojff as from 
Mississippi Central buttresses the streams of human life to a verge 
of ocean waters. A continental condition that the Old 
World had not known was now found in this magnificent inte- 
rior basin, over which the frontiers of a great republic were 
yet to be rapidly pushed from one mountain wall to and beyond 
the other. It is a territory in its central water-shed of more 
than a million square miles, and with its tributary areas of no 
less than two and a half millions. It is, perhaps, as fertile a 
space for its size as the globe shows, and capable of supporting 
two hundred millions of people. It has a breadth of tillable 
valley remarkably free from impassable mountains, and modern 
engineering can easily overcome all physical obstacles in the 
way of a united people holding it. 



THE GREAT RIVER. 5 

It is threaded by a central water-way that begins amid an 
average temperature of 40°, and meets the sea with the mercury 
at 72°. This lordly current passes through belts of corn, cotton, 
sugar, and oranges. It is shaded successively by the willow 
and the sycamore, by the locust, persimmon, and ash, and at 
last by the bay-tree, the magnolia, and palmetto. With forty 
or fifty considerable tributaries and a hundred thousand affluent 
streams in all, the great current carries off to the Gulf a mar- 
velous precipitation. These water-ways offer sixteen thousand 
miles of navigable waters, and it has been said that its great 
body of tributaries is more generally serviceable for trans- 
port service than that of any other river, except perhaps the 
Amazon. Vessels of good size are thought to be able to trav- 
erse at least ten thousand miles of channel for most of the year. 
The voyager stemming the current from the Gulf must pole his 
bateau nearly a thousand miles to the Ohio. At the Falls of 
St. Anthony — the first serious obstruction — he finds himself 
about seven hundred feet above the sea, and this elevation is 
more than doubled when he reaches the source of all in 
Itasca Lake, more than twenty-five hundred miles from the 
deltas in the Gulf. If he follow the Missouri from its junc- 
tion with the main stream, he can reach the Rocky Mountains, 
near four thousand miles from the sea, and the sinuosities of 
his course will double the length of his passage. 

Descending, as was ordinarily done in these early days of the 
French occupation, from the portages about Lake Michigan, 
the canoeist found a declination of nearly six hundred feet in 
twenty-five hundred miles. In the floods of the early summer 
it took him about a month to make the descent, and hardly 
less than three months at any time to mount against the stream. 
A season of freshets would have raised the surface of the Gulf 
a foot and a quarter but for some oceanic compensations. 

Moreover, there was something commensurately grand in 
the surging of this vast current through the years The surging 
athwart an average width of forty or fifty miles of' *="'^''^"*- 
alluvial bottom, on its way to find the level of the sea. Fran- 
quelin, in 1684, gave the Taensas lake as immediately opening 
into the Great River. Iberville, in 1700, found it a league to 
the west, and Thomassy, in 1859, put it several miles still 
farther from the main stream. Again, Cahokia was founded 



6 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

in 1699, but it was not long- before the shifting current left its 
habitations far inland. Charlevoix, in 1721, speaking of the 
region about the mouth of the Ked Kiver, found evident proof 
that "the Mississippi casts itself here from the east," — a con- 
dition to be considered, he thought, in making settlements 
thereabouts. To counteract these and other hydrographieal 
vagaries along the great current and its largest affluent, the 
government of the United States is now expending five million 
dollars a year. 

For over a century after the European contact this great 
Tijg river had waited for recognition. It sometimes rose 

discoverers. £j£^y £gg^ '^^ -^g h&(\., and yct this immense outflow in 
the Gulf had failed of adequate notice. Pineda, in 1579, did 
not comjsrehend it. Twenty years later, De Soto had crossed 
the river at the Chickasaw bluffs without a suspicion of an 
immense drainage, of which the consequent cartography took 
no note. 

It was not till 1673 that Marquette and Joliet found the 
"great water" of the Indian report, so long familiar, to flow 
neither into the Gulf of California nor into the Sea of Virginia, 
but to run south to the wide semi-tropical Gulf. The future of 
the Great River was now assured. The luckless La Salle had 
fallen by the assassin's bvdlet while endeavoring to make it the 
imposing southern entrance to the interior of the continent. 

Nature had, indeed, made the entrance from the Gulf more 
than the portal of a single basin. The south winds 

The trough ^ .„. ., 

of the which are swept in from its tropical waters, uniting 

continent. . ■, ■, -i i • ^ c i • 

With other currents drawn thither irom the regions 
bordering on the Pacific, course northward together to be pre- 
cipitated at the sources of the Mississippi, Saskatchewan, and 
Mackenzie rivers. Thence passing up those boreal valleys, 
reinforced by the Chinooks from the North Pacific, they make 
the soil fairly tillable almost to the Arctic circle, and agricul- 
ture profitable as far north as the 62° of latitude. There is 
another natural cause of the cultivable power of these high 
latitudes in the depression of the average altitude of the land, 
as shown in the eight thousand feet of elevation where the 
Union Pacific Kailroad runs, and the four thousand on the line 

Note. The opposite map is from tlie Carte de la Louisiane, par le Sieur D''AnviUe, dressee en 
mat, 1732; piihUee en 1752. It shows the country of the Natchez and Tonicas, and the position 
at that time of the Lac des Taiusas. 




■ cLThertntle' 



S^J^cffT etv numta/i 



8 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

of the Canadian Pacific. It has been computed that the de- 
pression of altitude from Wyoming to the Mackenzie Kiver 
woidd counteract climatically a northing of thirteen degrees. 
Furthermore, the greater leng-th of sunlight everywhere charac- 
teristic of high latitudes conduces at least to the rapidity of 
botanic development. 

All these causes put spring on the Peace River ahead of that 
season on the Minnesota, and the ice in the river at Fort Snell- 
ing near St. Paul is said to break up simultaneously with that 
at Fort Vermilion in Athabasca. Thus it was in these early 
days that the buffalo ranged among the copsewood and on the 
prairie extending from the lower Mississippi to Athabasca. 

So the great longitudinal trough of North America, with 
scarce a perceptible divide in some places where the Mississippi 
and Red River of the North head together, stretches in gradu- 
ated aspects from the Mexican Gulf nearly to the Great Slave 
Lake. In this way the enormous interior trough is not confined 
to the Mississippi, but is increased by something like two mil- 
lions of square miles of land along the Mackenzie, Saskatche- 
wan, and Red rivers, which with the Mississippi form an almost 
continuous course of fertilizing water. 

It was obviously now the mission of France to make this 
w^atery portal by the Mexican Gulf for the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi what French explorers had already, a century and a 
half before, made the St. Lawrence Gulf for the lower basin of 
the Great Lakes. 

The French had two rivals to be feared in fulfilling this mis- 
Rivais of sion, — the Spanish and the English. 
SpanTshMid The Spaniards had not profited as they might have 
EiigUsh. clone by the incursions across this lower country made 
by Narvaez and De Soto ; but they had founded St. Augustine, 
on the Atlantic coast, in 1565, twenty years and more before 
the fatal stroke to Spanish prosperity fell in the destruction of 
the Great Armada. Spain was at that time unquestionably 
dominant everj^vhere in this northern continent, and she had 
not yet begun to fear that the English would in time dispossess 
her of the New Mexican mines, or that the French in the Illi- 
nois would get from the Comanches horses bred from Spanish 
ponies. She had little to dread from Raleigh's colony at Roa- 




[From Humphreys and Abbot's Basin of the Mississippi, etc., War Department, 1861. It shows 
the Mills Lacs regiou, the upper Mississippi basiu, aud the sources of the Ked River of the North. ] 



10 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

noke, or from the scattered fishing stations of the French about 
Newfoundland. But when Philip II. died, the time had come 
for Spain's threatening rivals to contest her claim to American 
soil. 

France on her part was not prepared to dispute the rights of 
Spain west of the Rio Grande del Norte, for the Span- 
iards asserted that Antoine du Miroir, who had led 
their explorations from Mexico, had never passed east of that 
river. Accordingly, from that stream along the coast of the 
modern Texas and as far east as Pensacola (where Spain had 
recently settled a colony, in 1696) France claimed that her 
rights rested upon her discovery of the Mississippi by Joliet, 
and upon La Salle's coursing along the adjacent coasts. 

Inland, however, the Spaniards had already gained some 
knowledge of this Texan region. In 1575, Francisco de Urdi- 
nola had reconnoitred the upper reaches of its rivers, and a 
hundred years later (1675) an expedition under Fernando del 
Bisque had again penetrated the country. There seem, indeed, 
to have been wandering Spanish missionaries at certain points 
in the country at a later day. What is now San Antonio had 
formerly been a Spanish military post, and was considered a 
regidar station of their frontier in 1690, and a number of set- 
tlers had been gathered there under its protection. 

The cm'rent of the Red River offered to the Spaniards another 
approach on the western flank of the Mississippi ; but 

Red River. .in,ii , ... 

it would lead them to a low country, without mines, 
and this characteristic of the lower valley of the Mississippi 
had long kept that gold-seeking people out, and was likely to 
continue to do so. 

The most dangerous rivals of the French were in the east, — 
English the English dwelling north of the Floridean peninsula, 
colonies. separated by bounds claimed in 1663 by the English 
to be the 31° of north latitude, but never settled till the oblit- 
eration of 1763. Living under their sea-to-sea charters, these 
English were nevertheless walled in on the Atlantic slope by 
the Appalachian range. Though in some regions much con- 
glomerated of stock, they were in the main dominated by unmis- 
takable English principles which the French little understood. 
This difference of character always kept the two people mutu- 
ally unattractive. There was a fundament of English policy 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 11 

which at first blush seemed to place the English on a better 
footing with the aborigines, but events hardly showed a con- 
stant advantage in it. This was the policy o£ claiming only 
sovereignty over the natives' land, and requiring the purchase 
of the fee before occupancy. The French and the Spaniards, 
on the other hand, claimed both sovereignty over and the fee in 
all heathen lands which they occupied. 

The English, moreover, were a trading people in a sense that 
the French were not. They founded their communities on 
family life, which bound them to the soil, so that they abided 
whereon they entered. The practice of the fur trade, the sole 
support of the French, was opposed to such kind of domesticity. 
The English, too, had proved themselves a seafaring folk beyond 
what their rivals on the St. Lawrence were. They had flour- 
ished on the ocean in spite of a survival of medievalism in the 
narrow policy of imperial navigation acts. By this failure of 
the mother English to recognize a public policy advancing 
inevitably, the colonies were hardened to ways which eventually 
deprived England of them. 

The Dutch, during their rule on Manhattan, had organized 
an Indian trade in peltries, and the English, who succeeded in 
their pursuit of the same trade, outbid the French in their own 
policy. Their rivals in this were touched in their sorest spot. 
From the beginning this emulation engendered and kept up 
a sort of guerrilla warfare between the traders of both races. 
In 1685 Governor Dongan of New York had invited the " Otta- 
wawas, a people on the back of Maryland, Virginia, and Caro- 
lina, to come and trade at Albany," and the next year the French 
captured some Albany traders who had gone to these Indians 
" on a lake." 

The British colonists were drawing apart from the feudal and 
manorial systems of the Old Woi-ld, as the French were 

. Tlieir 

not. In New England, the early adoption of the Mo- political 
saic code had banished primogeniture and entail. The 
Quakers in Philadelphia had already sounded the knell of slav- 
ery, and Samuel Sewall, in Boston, was soon to inveigh against 
it in his Selling of Joseph. The future union of the States 
was noticeably prefigvired in the plans of confederation which 
William Penn, Lord Culpepper, and others were considering. 
The people were everywhere divided into "patriots" and "pre- 
rogative men." 



12 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

The class lists of Harvard, soon to be followed by those of 
Yale, ranked students by social position, so that a strong- infu- 
sion of Old-World sentiments in family distinctions was still 
prevailing, but on political questions it was easily remarked 
that growing convictions were sundering the colonies from the 
mother country. It was significant of the geographical diver- 
gencies of these sentiments, that in the sequel the southern 
gentleman was oftenest to stand for a new future, and the 
northern to be conservative. 

To the people of pure English stock other hardy races had 
been added. Cromwell, through his navy under Blake, 
had prepared the way for the downfall of Spain ; but 
he exercised quite another influence on the destiny of America 
when he sent over the Scotch prisoners captured at Dunbar 
and Worcester. It was the thrift and premonitions of these 
exiles which had established at Boston the oldest of American 
mutual-aid associations, vigorous and rich to-day. The Scotch- 
Irish which followed later to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- 
ginia, were to make the most enduring of pioneers, and to stamp 
their virile nature upon the early history of Tennessee and 
Kentucky. This spirit was in due time to permeate the Great 
Valley. A body of Germans, sent over by a society in Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, had already settled in Pennsylvania and on 
the tide-waters of the Chesapeake, — redemptioners, for the 
most part, — who were in fit time to move along the valley of 
Virginia and play their part in the great western march. It 
was unfortunate for New York that she did much by her 
large manorial grants to repel the Germans, who might have 
pushed her settlements westward much faster than was done. 
Those who came to seek an independent life in the New World 
did not take kindly to anything like tenant servility, and sel- 
dom tarried in a province that denied them the best results of 
emigration. 

Such were the peoples kept back for a while from the water- 
Ti,e shed of the Mississippi by a mountain barrier of 

Appalachians, peculiar impenetrability for one of its climate and 
height. " The woods of the Appalachian district," says Professor 
Shaler, a distinguished student of our American physiography, 
" were in all respects the finest of those found in any region be- 
yond the tropical parts of the earth." With an undergrowth of 



TENTATIVE GEOGRAPHY. 13 

brushwood and vines they long retarded the Engiisli progress 
to the west, and such was their density that ten to twenty years 
followed the deforesting before the land became wholly arable. 
Cartier, in 1535, when he was laying open the great St. 
Lawrence route into the heart of the continent, saw the ex- 
treme northern end of this mountain wall in the higlilands 
of Maine. Four years later (1539), De Soto found that its 
southern end turned westward in upper Georgia. Mercator, 
in 1569, usino; the reports of these two explorers, and 

Mercator. 

o]'3serving from the stories of those who had been 
along the coast that none of the streams entering the Atlan- 
tic between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Florida flowed in 
very large volume, was the first to divine the true nature of the 
Appalachians as a coast range, and he so delineated it on his 
great mappemonde. That intuitive geographer erred, however, 
in turning this coast range at its southern end to the west, 
so as to make it serve the same purpose in shortening the riv- 
ers which flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. He was led to this 
mistake by the little importance which Spanish explorers had 
so far put upon the Mississippi. To the geographical sense 
there was yet no suspicion that this still obscure river had a 
volume equal to the water-shed of the larger part of the conti- 
nent. To Mercator's mind this great inland region — for he 
had discarded the Verrazano theory — was all one with the 
basin of the St. Lawrence. The character of the Great Lakes 
was not yet comprehended, and Champlain had not begun 
their development. So it seemed natural to MercJitor to place 
the springs of the St. Lawrence in Arizona and make the cen- 
tral depression of the continent run nearly east and west, 
rather than north and south. 

It is curious that so late as the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury what was true in Mercator was neglected, and what was 
false was adopted. The maps of Hennepin, the Frenchman, 
and of Edward Wells, the Englishman, fail to delineate any 
coast range along the Atlantic side, but from upper Georgia 
they extend a mountain range due west, making only a break 
in it for the Mississippi. 

In the seventeenth century, the intercourse of the Iroquois 
with the French and English had taught these rivals what a 
commanding position those native confederates held to donii- 



14 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

nate the passage to regions beyond them. At the very close of 
that century, Bellomont, governing New York and New 
Indthe?r"°'^ England for the English, had suggested the barring 
country. ^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ Frcnch from the Iroquois country by the 
occupation of Oswego. Already hamlets were appearing along 
the Mohawk, and the Palatines of that German stock which 
was to push up the valley of Virginia were leading the way. 
The French had got a strong hold upon the Iroquois as early 
as the middle of the seventeenth century. At its close, Robert 
Livingston was warning the English that their alliance with 
the Iroquois would be imperiled if they did not send their 
own missionaries among them. The New York Assembly tried 
to checkmate the Jesuits by making it death for a papist to 
enter their borders. The French acted more adroitly, and on 
September 8, 1700, deputies of the Iroquois signed, at Mon- 
treal, the earliest written treaty — not a mere deed of land — 
between Europeans and the aborigines. Under its terms Jesuit 
missionaries were once more dispatched to the region south of 
Ontario and within what New York claimed as a part of her 
jurisdiction. 

All these years had shown both to the French and to the 
English that there was little difficulty in running trails for 
trade or war from the valley of the Mohawk and Genesee to 
the springs of the AUeghany River, and leading the way to the 
Ohio and the ISIississippi. 

The basin of the Ohio, with which there was thus easy con- 
The Ohio ^'^^^ ^^ ^^^ northeastern limit, was the same inviting 
basin. country which after the American Revolution drew 

away, under Putnam and Parsons, from the Atlantic States so 
large a proportion of their best blood. It was an area of more 
than two hundred thousand square miles, through which the 
vitalizing river, gathering its affluents along a course of more 
than a thousand miles, sped on its way with an almost even 
flow. Only at the modern Louisville was there a fall of some- 
thing like twelve to fifteen feet in the mile. The ripple on 
its banks had a far from constant level. It has been know^n 
to sink to a depth of a very few feet in its channel and to rise 
to fourscore and more. Evans, on his maps, puts the ordinary 
freshet rise at twenty feet, and says that the stream scarcely 
ever overflows its upright banks. Modern gauges have shown 



IROQUOIS CONQUESTS. 15 

that for about a hundred and sixty days in the year boats draw- 
ing- six feet of water can find a free passage. In his day, Evans 
reckoned that during full water boats could be rowed from 
Pittsburgh to the sea in sixteen or seventeen days ; and that 
from Mingo-town, seventy-five miles from the Forks, an ordi- 
nary stage of the flood would carry a draught of four feet. The 
river sweeps on amid a variegated flora, and the oak and hick- 
ory, the maple and black walnut, sheltered in these older days 
vast herds of bviffalo. 

It was along this valley that the Iroquois in the seventeenth 
century had pushed their westward conquests. On iroquois 
their route they had scattered the Eries dwelling couquests. 
south of the lake of that name. La' Salle had heard of the 
Ohio through some Senecas who visited Montreal in 1669, and 
in following its current some years later, he had found that the 
name of the Iroquois could create alarm even as far as the 
Mississippi. 

At the close of that century these confederated tribes were at 
the height of their power, — a domination that had taken more 
than a century and a half in the making. Their influence 
extended on the east into New England. They were feared at 
the north in the upper parts of Canada. They were a t.error 
on the Mississippi, and they enforced a savage law as far south 
as the Potomac. They had nearly scoured away all human life 
between the Ohio and Lake Erie, so that a territory marked as 
a vantage-ground for man's eudeavor — with its moderate ele- 
vation separating the streams that were ultimately delivered 
into the gulfs of St. Lawrence and Mexico — was simply a 
hunting-ground for tlieir young men, or was continuously trav- 
ersed by marauding bands of Shawnees. By the close of the 
seventeenth century, the foes of the Iroquois were gaining 
courage. It is a traditon gathered by Loskiel that the Dela- 
wares, fleeing before the whites, now crossed the Alle- j.^^^ q^^^ 
ghanies, drove the Cherokees before them, and pushed *"'^''®' 
into the Ohio valley. In 1693, the governor of New York had 
endeavored in vain to entice the Miamis, bordering on the west- 
ern end of Lake Erie, to break their bonds with the French. 
Three years later, by English instigation, the Iroquois advanced 
against these Miamis, with the Senecas in the van. The con- 
federates now received their first check. They were defeated 



16 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

the next year (1697) and driven back, and ultimately (1702) 
forced to a peace. 

At the opening of the eighteenth century, the Senecas main- 
Senecasand taiucd the wcstemmost outposts of the Iroquois in 
Mingoes. northcasteru Ohio. Their congeners the Mingoes — 
as the English called them from a Delaware usage — were in 
the southeastern parts. Later the Shawnees came back to their 
old haunts, and some of them settled farther west on the Scioto, 
leavino: their friends the Minnisinks on the forks of the Dela- 
ware. 

It has been suggested by Parkman and others that the Shaw- 
nees were remnants of the devastated Eries ; but the 
evidence is not conclusive. Their villages extended 
south of the Ohio into Kentucky, perhaps as far as the Savan- 
nah River, since Delisle placed them there in 1720. The most 
populous of their towns appear to have been situated on the 
Shawanee (Cumberland) and the Cherokee (Tennessee) rivers, 
whence in time the Cherokees and Chickasaws were to push 
them back. 

The vagrancy of the Shawnees — Chaouanons, as the 
French termed them — renders their history the most perplex- 
ing of all tribes of the Great Valley. We find traces of them 
as far south as the Gulf shore, and as far east as Pennsylvania 
and perhaps Virginia. Mr. C. C. Royce, of the Ethnological 
Bureau at Washington, has tried to trace their wanderings. 
He is inclined to the Erie theory of their origin, and thinks 
them not unlikely the " Massawomekes," of whom Captain 
John Smith, in 1608, heard as living over the mountains " upon 
a great salt water, which by all likelihood is some great lake, or 
some inlet of some sea that fitteth into the South Sea." They 
were thought to make their approach to the tide-water tribes, 
their enemies^ by streams entering Chesapeake Ba}'' from the 
northwest. 

When Marquette was at his mission on Lake Superior in 1670, 
he encomitered the Shawnees there, and he knew from the glass 
beads which they wore that they had traded with the English, 
then only possible by packmen who had passed the Alleghanies. 
Again we find Marquette, while on his eventful voyage do^vn 
the Mississippi three years later, speaking of the Ohio, when 
he passed its mouth, as coming from the country of the Shaw- 



THE ALLEGHANY PASSES. 17 

nees. At the very close of the century, Father Cosme tells us 
that the Shawnees were still bartering with the people east of 
the Alleghanies. 

Beyond the Scioto lay, as the century went on, the Wyan- 
dots, — a fragment of the old Huron people, — and neighboring 
to them were the Ottawas on the Sandusky and the Maumee of 
the north. 

As to this eastern affluent of the Mississippi, the French had 
introduced a confused nomenclature, which needs to ohio and 
be borne in mind in reading the early narratives, ^''^^^i^- 
What they often called the Ouabache (Wabash) was the pres- 
ent stream of that name, continued in the modern Ohio below 
their junction. The Belle Riviere, or the Ohio, was the larger 
stream above the Wabash, and the name was extended to cover 
what we now call the Alleghany. James Logan of Pennsyl- 
vania early (1718) discriminated : " Some call both these 
rivers [Ohio and Wabash] by the same name, and generally 
Wabache ; but they ought to be distinguished, because the 
head of Ohio comes much more easterly [in the Alleghany], 
extending even to the government of New York." 

The French and the Dutch had knowledge of this Alleghany 
ingress into the Ohio reg^ions as early as the middle 

The Alle- 

of the seventeenth century, and the English came giiany River 
later to know it. Champlain had been the first to in- iroquois 

iiT» 1 -I 1 country. 

vade the iroquois country, the natural gateway to the 
west. His maps are the earliest we have. The Jesuit mis- 
sionaries added further information, and the warring inroads of 
Tracy and Denonville still increased it. But the almost steady 
adherence of the Iroquois to the English gave these rivals of 
the French an advantage, increased much in the eighteenth 
century by the remarkable personal influence of William John- 
son, when the final struggle came for the possession of. the 
valley. 

As the English settlements moved back from the sea, all 
along the Appalachians, it became apparent, from time to time, 
that there were gaps in the mountains which could be passed, 
and water-ways beyond to be found which led to the Ohio val- 
ley. The Pennsylvanians opened such a passage by the west 



18 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

branch of tlie Susquehanna. Evans later describes it as " in- 
Pennsyiva- terlockcd with brauchcs of the Alleghany, making- a 
the AUeg^ha- portagc of fortj miles, and from thence to Shamokin 
'^''^^' [at the forks of the Susquehanna] the traders are 

usually seven days coming down with a fresh." One of the 
legends on Evans's map of 1744 speaks of the Susquehanna as 
having no "sea navigation" because of its obstructions, but, 
it adds, " by its length and large branches, connnunicating with 
the country beyond the mountains, it makes amends in con- 
veniences for Indian navigation with canoes." Of the "End- 
less Mountains " (Appalachians) it further says that " back of 
Pennsylvania there are a hundred miles right across, scarce an 
acre of ten of which is capable of culture." 

There was also from Pennsylvania another portage from the 
Juniata to other affluents of the Alleghany, a route which 
knew much devastation in the later wars. The Virginians 
Gaps in vir- fouud still sliortcr portages to the Monongahela and 
ginia. Ohio from the upper waters of the Potomac, and 

observers were not slow in discovering that the climate on the 
two slopes of the mountains was not much changed by the 
elevation which was to be passed. 

The passage west in upper Georgia by an almost level route 
around the mountains had long been known. The information 
which De Soto had acquired was confirmed by the Spanish 
miners, who worked here at intervals for a long time after 
1560. The Carolina traders, however, did not depend alone on 
The Caroiin- ^^^^ morc practicable route in maintaining their Indian 
th"i/iudian traffic. The Carolinians were a conglomerate people 
trade. from tlic beginning. Beside the pure English, there 

were strains of other blood, — Scotch and Protestant Irish, 
Swiss, Palatines, and Dutch, the last coming down from the Iro- 
quois country after the English occupation. The cultivation of 
rice was even yet looked upon among them as a staple, and 
created with the increase of its crops a scattering plantation 
life, so that towns were not the rule. 

Trade had already begun with the Cherokees, a race in the 
south much like the Iroquois in the north. Indeed, Horatio 

NoTB. The opposite map is from Humphreys and Abbot's liasin.i of the ^fusissippi, etc., War 
Department, 1861. It shows the Ohio basin, and liovv the rivers on the southern side of the Ohio 
are separated by the Allegbauies from the Virginia and Carolina waters. 



■'^.L^ 







20 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

Hale and other philologists have seen in the Cherokee tongue 
certain linjjuistic relations to the language of the Iro- 

Cherokees. . 

quois, though there are some investigators who con- 
nect them rather with the Dacotahs. The Cherokees were a 
skillful people, made pipes deftly, and constructed mounds of 
earth. They were much more inclined to agriculture than the 
tribes which the French had known in Canada, and their sus- 
tenance depended rather on vegetables and fruits than upon ani- 
mal fats and oils used in the north. Their villages stretched 
all along the mountains southward, from the headwaters of the 
Holston and Clinch in Tennessee to the sources of the rivers 
in Carolina, and they built their lodges on either slope of the 
Api^alachians and in their valleys. De Soto had found them in 
much the same situation. 

It is very likely that in the latter half of the seventeenth 
centuiy the Virginians had some knowledge of their northern 
villages. In 1690, one Daugherty, a Virginian trader, had 
gone among them. In 1693, a deputation of their chief men 
had come to Charleston to ask aid against the Tuscaroras. 

In May, 1699, Bienville, the French commander on the 
Gulf, reports an attack of Indians on the north shore of Lake 
Pontchartrain, and among the assailants were some whites ; and 
he supposes they were English from Carolina. Even as early 
as La Salle's time, it seemed evident to that explorer that the 
English in Carolina were sending traders over the mountains, 
for he could not otherwise account for the articles of Euroj)ean 
make which he found among the Mississippi tribes. 

The inter-tribal traffic which was carried on by the Yamas- 
sees on the Savannah, by the Catawbas on the river 
Indians and of that uamc, and by the Tuscaroras on the Neuse, 
with the Indians over the mountains naturally opened 
traders' trails for the English. Delisle, in liis map of 1701, 
shows the routes of the Carolina traders to the Chickasaws ; in 
that of 1703 he makes a river, evidently the Tennessee, a thor- 
oughfare for such trade, and in 1707 he calls it the " Tinnase," 
making it rise among the Cherokee villages. 

The Creeks, more easily reached around the southern spurs 
^, „ , of the mountains, occupied the territory south and 

The Creeks. ' / i -*r i -i 

west of the Savannah River and thence to the Mobile, 
and thev included in their tribal associations the Seminoles of 



THE OCEAN ROUTE. 21 

Florida. The line between the Cherokees and the Creeks fol- 
lowed the Broad River, and ran roughly along the 34° of north 
latitude. The English were already beginning to establish 
their factories among this people, and a legend on Mitchell's 
map (1755) says that such stations are scattered through the 
country, except among the Alibamons on the Alabama River, 
who had come under French influence in 1715, though the 
English had been among them as early as 1687. The " route 
of Colonel Welch in 1698," given in the same map as that fol- 
lowed by the Carolina traders, crossed westward the upper 
waters of the Appalachicola, past the Alabama and Chickasaw 
rivers (the main forks of the Mobile), and so reached the coun- 
try of the Chickasaws. 

When La Salle turned trader, he was confined in his en- 
terprise, by royal edict, to those parts of the upper l^ Saiie and 
Mississippi valley which did not supply furs to the ^'^^'^^i"®- 
Montreal market. Finding the peltries of this region heavy, 
— for they were largely buffalo-skins, — he had been prompted, 
after his discovery of the outlet of the Great River at the south, 
to organize a plan of shipping his furs down the Mississippi on 
their way to Europe, rather than to trail them over the north- 
ern portages on the way to the merchants' ships at Montreal. 
Apprehensive of English interruption, he had at the same time 
urged that the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi should be 
occupied, to close them against any such rivalry. It was left 
for Iberville to open this ocean route to France. 

Even after La Salle had reached the Illinois and had begun 
to covet their trade, the Montreal merchants had been ^^^ ^^-^^ ^^^ 
jealous of the interference which it would cause with ^°"*y- 
the commerce of the northern Indians. Royal decrees had rec- 
ognized the diverting of this trade of the Illinois Indians to its 
natural channel down the Mississippi ; but when La Salle's pa- 
tent fell to his faithful henchman, the picturesque Tonty with 
the silver hand, an exception was made in the latter's favor 
because of his signal services, and he was allowed (1699) to 
dispatch two canoes and twelve men yearly from the St. Law- 
rence to his Rock on the Illinois. This indulgence did not 
long continue, and in 1702 it was withdrawn. Tonty, as we 
shall see, was thus driven to join Iberville at the mouth of the 
Mississippi. 



22 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

The obstacles of these Canadian routes to the sea were great, 
involving the passage of divides, which were scattered 
northern from the extreme end of Lake Superior to the Niag- 
ara River. To the common apprehension of the aver- 
age European geographer, these multiplied connections were 
simply evolved in the conception of a river by which the Mis- 
sissippi was united with the St. Lawrence. This is seen in the 
Introductio in Universam GeograpJiiam. of Cluverius, and in 
an edition published so late as 1729. Even Bowen, the Eng- 
lish geographer, so late as 1747, makes the Wisconsin River an 
unbroken link connecting Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, 

The earliest known of these portages were those farthest 
away from the Canadian settlements, and principal among them 
was that starting from the country about Green Bay, where the 
Winnebagoes, an isolated tribe of the Dacotah stock, 
first introduced these Iroquois of the west to the 
early explorers. This carry was known from Indian report to 
Nicollet as early as 1634, but Joliet was probably the first to 
pass it, in 1673. It was a somewhat tedious, but not a difficult 
portage, and it is said that even to-day, in wet seasons, the 
waters of the approaching streams sometimes mingle. Passing 
up the Fox River from the Bay, the canoeist traversed Lake 
Winnebago, along the sites of the now populous towns of Fond 
du Lac and Oshkosh. Twisting along the upper Fox for sixty 
or seventy miles, at what is now Portage City, he passed not 
much over a mile by land to the Wisconsin with its umbra- 
geous banks and shifting sands. 

The course of the trader thus threaded the country of the 
Foxes, a people who were never brouoht wholly to 

The Foxes. ' i i o j 

succumb to French blandishments, and often rendered 
this route dangerous and even impassable. They were a tribe 
who, in alliances with the Dacotahs on the one side and the 
Chickasaws and Iroquois on the other, did much to resist the 
westward movements of the French. 

Driven from this i-oute by Green Bay, the French trader some- 
Ljj^g times resorted to another carry, at the extreme west- 

Bupenor. ^^.^ ^^^j ^£ Lake Supcrior, where he entered the St. 
Louis River, and found himself in that Mille Lacs region, the 
arena of many a conflict of the Chippeways and Dacotahs. The 
variegated forests of this passage are still mirrored in its innu- 







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24 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

merable lakes, ponds, and streams, clear and pebbly, and the 
wild rice rustles as the paddle bends its tottering stalks. It was 
through such a country that the woodsman sought the upper- 
most reaches of the Mississippi, where that river was first 
seen by Europeans, and whence Duluth, in 1680, had hoped to 
find a way to the Gulf of California. Where the pioneer two 
centuries ago stranded his canoe, the twin cities of an ocean 
lake now rival Chicago as a distributing centre of produce and 
trade. 

Before the end of the seventeenth century, the portages at 
the head of Lake Michigan had become the best known 

Lake '^ 

Michigan of all, and there had been a trading-post for something^ 

portages. . o t. a 

like fifteen years at the Chicago River. What Her- 
man Moll, the English cartographer, called the " land carriage 
of Chekakou " is described by James Logan, in a communica- 
tion which he made in 1718 to the English Board of Trade, as 
running from the lake three leagues up the river, then a half a 
league of carriage, then a mile of water, next a small carry, 
then two miles to the Illinois, and then one hundred and thirty 
leagues to the Mississippi. But descriptions varied with the 
seasons. It was usually called a carriage of from four to nine 
miles, according to the stage of the water. In dry seasons it 
was even farther, while in wet times it might not be more than a 
mile ; and, indeed, when the intervening lands were " drowned," 
it was quite possible to pass in a canoe amid the sedges from 
Lake Michigan to the Des Plaines, and so to the Illinois and 
the Mississippi. 

It is along this route that the drainage canal of the city of 
Chicago is now constructing for the joint purpose of relieving 
the city of its sewage and opening a passage for its commerce 
with the interior. 

There were other portages south of the Chicago River, and at 
the southwest corner of the lake by the lesser and greater Cal- 
umet rivers, by which the Kankakee and Des Plaines branches 
of the Illinois were sometimes reached. It is not always easy, 
in the early narratives, to determine which of these portages 
about Chicago was in jDarticular instances used, and in the maps 
there is some confusion in the Chekagoua and Calumet rivers. 

In the southeast angle of the lake was the portage of the St. 
Joseph River, which La Salle was much accustomed to trav- 



26 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

erse. There was by it about four miles of carriage to the 
Kankakee. The northward current of the eastern shore of 
Lake Michigan, and the southward current of the western shore, 
naturally made the St. Joseph portage a return route to Canada, 
and the Chicago an outward one. At a later day, this same 
river was found to afford a carriage to an upper branch of the 
Wabash, and it became the principal channel of supplies for 
the settlers at Yincennes. One can weU imagine how this broad 
prairie land struck the Canadian from his sterile north, — the 
flower-studded grass of the spring and the tall waving banner- 
ets of the later season, with the luxury of the river bottoms 
and their timber margins. 

There was still a series of portages crowning the narrow strip 
Lake Erie ®^ ^^^® southcrn watcr-slied of Lake Erie, but they were 
portages. little uscd tiU the eighteenth century. There is some 
reason to suppose, from the evidence of Sanson's map, that the 
Maumee had been explored as early as 1656, and the portage 
thence to the Wabash had been known to AUouez as early as 
1680. A year or two later, La SaUe says it is the most direct 
of all the routes to the Illinois, but too hazardous because of 
the prowling Iroquois. It remained almost unfrequented be- 
cause of these confederates till after the settling of Detroit in 
1715. By this time the Miamis' confederacy had possessed the 
region about the affluents of the Wabash, and the three thou- 
sand warriors which they could piit in the field were a check 
upon the Iroquois. The country was an attractive one, with its 
undidating landscape of meadow and upland, and streams that 
alternately lingered in calm repose and twirled with the foam- 
ing rapid. Animal life was brisk with the deer, the wolf, and 
the bear. The rivulets were alive with the white swan, the 
crane, and the heron, springing from the wild rice or settling 
along the grassy isles. On the gentle slopes of the land one 
heard the turkey and the quail. It was a meeting-ground of 
the savages, and the ashes of their council fires were seen on 
the knolls. 

This portage varied with the state of the water from eight or 
nine miles to even thirty. For two hundred miles downward 
from the carry the Wabash was more or less interrupted, but 

Note. The opposite map is from Humphreys and Abbot's Basins of the Mississippi, etc., War 
Department, 1801. It sliows tlie line of the divide intersecting the portages between the Oreat 
Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi basins. 



KidsHfu^ftJ 



Im ujx auJ OMifU- 








>^ 



30 TEE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

beyond that there was about four hundred miles of navigable 
course for boats not drawing over three feet. 

Another portage from the Maumee to the west branch of the 
Big Miami became later the traveled route of the traders from 
Pennsylvania and Virginia. A short carry from Sandusky to 
the Scioto became the warpath of the French Indians about 
the Detroit River against the Choctaws and flat-headed tribes 
towards Carolina. 

The portages farther east came into use much later. A short 
one by way of the Cuyahoga (where Cleveland now stands) led 
to the upper waters of the Muskingum. That by Presqu' Isle 
(the modern city of Erie) and French Creek led to the Alle- 
ghany River, and became eventually the chief approach of the 
French after they had determined to maintain military posts 
along the Ohio and bar out the English. It is by the same 
route to-day that commerce and engineering skill are combining 
in hope to connect Pittsburgh, the great centre of coal produc- 
tion, with the Lakes, already coursed with steamers of more 
than four thousand tons disj^lacement. 

Still more easterly was that to Chautauqua Lake, the source 
of the Alleghany, but it proved too much of an incline for 
transporting heavy supplies. It was also quite possible to pass 
Lake Onta- fi'om tlic sourccs of the Gcnesce to the springs of the 
no portages. ^Heghauy, but the route was hardly used except by 
wanderers and stealthy war parties. The portages from the 
Iroquois country to the south were mainly of use in passing to 
the Susquehanna and Delaware. 

There is a story reported by Begon in a memoir (1716) that 
The Sea of ^^ early as 1688 the Assiniboine Indians had offered 
the West. ^Q conduct a French traveler, De Noyen, by what 
seems to have been the Minnesota River, over a divide to the 
Red River of the North, and so to Lake Winnipeg. Thence, the 
memoir claimed, the way was open to the great Sea of the West, 
where people rode on horseback. The journey to and from 
would occupy, he said, five months. These are the earliest inti- 
mations of an overland discovery of the Pacific, by a definite 



Note. The map on the preceding pages shows the northern portages as understood at the time 
of Joliet's discoveries. From Marcel's Reproductions, following a map in the Archives of the 
Marine at Paris. 



I?* \ » f 




[From Humphreys and Abbot's Basins of the 3Iississippi, etc., War Department, 1861. It shows 
the divide between the Yellowstone River and Snake River.] 



32 THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

course, and the first indication of the passage which was to 
connect the Great Valley with the Mackenzie basin and the 
polar sea. 

In 1695, Le Sueur established a post on the upper Missis- 
sippi, and acted as a pacificator of the ChijDpeways and Sioux. 
In his search at the same time for a copper mine on the Green 
River, — which was reached by the ^Minnesota, — he 
and St. Pe- had, it is supposed, been the earliest to know this 
affluent of the Mississippi, when he bestowed upon 
ic the name of St. Peter. / 

When, in 1673, Marquette descended the Wisconsin and the 
The Mis- Mississippi, and was going along with the current in 
soun River, dear Water at a speed of twelve miles an hour, he 
noticed a great change in the body of the stream, which was 
produced by the much more rapid influx from the west of a 
gTcat volume of eddying sediment. He learned from the Indi- 
ans that this polluting stream was called the Pekitauoiii. At a 
later day, when the tribe of the Missouris was found to be a 
leading race among the fourteen nations of savages which inhab- 
ited the banks of this great river, it was easy for it to become 
better known as the Missouri, th,us distinguishing it as an afflu- 
ent of the Mississippi, when the voliune of its current entitled 
it, rather than the Mississippi, to be called the principal stream. 
At tliis time Marquette indulged the hope that one day he 
might be permitted to ascend its turbid course and solve the 
great problem of the west. It was reserved, however, for the 
eighteenth century to begin the solution of that geographical 
riddle which was made clear in the nineteenth. It was then 
found that the springs of the Platte, which fed the ^Missouri, 
and its port- ^cre adjaccnt to those of the Colorado, which de- 
*K^*- bouched into the Gulf of California. Other explor- 

ers discovered that the sources of the Yellowstone opened 
portages to those of the Snake, while an upper affluent of the 
Missouri was contiguous to the headwaters of Clark's Fork. 
The Snake and this fork were idtimately found to pass their 
united waters into the Columbia, entered from the Pacific for 
the first time by a Boston ship at the close of the eighteenth 
century, and draining a country richer and larger than the 
combined area of the Atlantic seaboard commonwealths from 
Maine to Virginia. 



CHAPTER II. 

Iberville's expedition. 

1697-1700. 

The treaty of Ryswick, in April, 1697, left France m posses- 
sion of the two great valleys of North America. Tonty was now 
at his Rock on the Illinois, a sort of privileged charac- 

, , Touty. 

ter in the valley, respected by Indian and white when- 
ever they came within his influence. Whoever has followed 
the career of La Salle needs not to be told of the services of 
this faithful follower. It was well known how valorously and 
devotedly he had gone down the Mississippi, hoping to res- 
cue his bewildered leader. A journal which Tonty had kept, 
falling into irresponsible hands, had only just been published 
in Paris, but there was so much of interjected error and foolish 
untruth in it that the hardy adventurer promptly disowned it. 
The publication, however, had served to increase his fame in 
France. Before this he had asked that he might be permitted 
to follow up the discoveries of La Salle at the mouth of the 
Great River and confirm its possession to the king, but the 
man of action was not yet thought to be needed. 

In October, 1697, Louvigny preferred the same request, and 
held out the hope of invading Mexico successfully, 
from the Mississippi as a base, — a view of the river's 
usefulness that was not lost a few years later. In December, 
De Remonville argued in a Memoire that the development of 
Louisiana was of great importance to France. He catalogued 
the variety of products which the country could be made to yield, 
— game, peltry, wine, siU?, and hemp. The territory, he said, 
was rich in mines. Its oaks could more than supply the royal 
navy with masts. He pointed out that a colonizing expedition 
ought to be sent speedily, lest the English should gain posses- 
sion in advance. Moreover, he added, a considerable military 



Amewove 
septentr 




THE MISSISSIPPI. 

[From a map in the Bibliotlieque Nationale, given in Marcel's Reproductions. It was made 
by the Abbt; Gentil and given to tliat library in 1713. It shows the early explorations of La 
Salle, and represents the knowledge previous to Iberville's voyage.] 



IBERVILLE. 



35 



force was necessary to protect the expedition from the English 
buccaneers, who infested the coast from New York to Florida. 
He adduced a rumor that the governor of Pennsylvania had 
already dispatched fifty men to settle on the Wabash (Oliio), 




and such an occupation could be but a distinct threat to the 
French control of the Mississippi. 

This memoir was addressed to Pontchartrain, who as minis- 
ter had already been importuned by Iberville, just 
now released from service in the north by the treaty train and 

. Til Iberville. 

of Kyswick. The urgency was great, and the des- 



36 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

tined actor was restless. The government yielded, and Iber- 
ville gathered for the undertaking a company of two hundred 
emigrants, men, women, and children. It is from Penicault, a 
carpenter in the company, who kept a running account 
of events up to his leaving the colony in 1721, that 
we get a great deal of what we know of these early beginnings 
of Louisiana. 

In June, 1698, Iberville obtained command of the " Badine," 
while another ship, the " Marin," was placed under the Cheva- 
lier de Surgeres. Fresh reports now came from over the Eng- 
lish Channel, indicating that their rivals were planning to send 
out a company of French Protestants. While the government's 
purpose was to seize the mouths of the Mississippi before the 
English could get there, Iberville thought it prudent to give 
out that his destination was the Amazon. It was October be- 
iberviue ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ready to sail, and on the 24th his two 
saUs. ships, with some tenders, put to sea from Brest. Six 

weeks later, on December 4, the leading ships reached Cap 
FrauQois in San Domingo, and the supply vessels came safely 
in one by one. His company refreshed themselves, but not 
always prudently, and a number died from over-indulgence. 
Here the" Francois," having orders which had been sent ahead, 
joined the expedition. She was a ship of fifty guns, under 
Chateaumorand, and became a faithful escort. 

Iberville, who had picked up some filibusters as recruits, left 
San Domingo on New Year's Day (January 1, 1699), under 
the piloting of a wild adventurer, Laurent de Graff. The 
fleet passed beyond Cuba and then steered north. Land Avas 
made in the early evening of January 23. It was a coast of 
white sand, and the smoke of fires was seen far inland. Turn- 
ing west and anchoring each night, three days later the French 
saw the masts of vessels behind a protecting sand-spit, and pres- 
ently a sloop came out to reconnoitre. Iberville was now off 
Pensacola. He avoided intercourse with the inquisitive Span- 
iards, and crawled away, still westerly, along the coast. On 
January 81, he was opposite Mobile Bay, but the weather was 
foul and he did not stop. Ten days later his ships glided under 
the lee of an island, which was later know^i as Ship Island. 

Iberville soon started (February 27) in a boat towards the 
mainland, where he cautiously tried to open communication 



THE GREAT RIVER FOUND. 



37 



with the natives. He hoped to get guides from them to aid 
him in finding the Great River. Some wandering Bayagoulas, 
whom he encountered among the Biloxi Indians, told him of a 
great river farther west upon which their tribe lived. 




IBERVILLE. [From Margry.] 

There was fortunately among the French the priest, Anas- 
tase Douay, who had been a companion of La Salle. Moreover, 
Iberville himself was well informed of what La Salle, Membre, 
Tonty, and even Hennepin had said of the Mississippi, and 
counted on their descriptions as aids in identifying the stream. 

Following the shore south and west, it was on Mai'cli 2 that 



38 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

Iberville entered a large river, and struggled up against its 
turbid flood. His rangfe of vision was bounded bv 

The . ° "^ 

Mississippi cauebrakes and willows. As he went on, he began 
to doubt if it was the river which Hennepin, Joutel, 
and Tonty had known. Wherever he encamj^ed he marked a 
tree with the cross. The youthful Bienville, a younger brother 
of Iberville, usually pushed his boat ahead of the rest. They 
saw fires in the distance, and occasionally got a sight of the 
neighboring bayous. Whatever Indians were seen jjossessed 
canoes fleet enough to escape, but one day a savage was cajoled 
into coming to them to receive gifts. This enticed others, with 
whom the French traded trinkets for meat. W^henever they 
fired a cannon, the amazed natives fell as if struck. 

The French reached the spot where New Orleans was later 
Site of New built, and here discovered the portage which led to 
Orleans. inner waters, by which they could reach their ships. 
Leaving the examination of this for another occasion, they 
passed on and landed among the Bayagoulas, who lifted the 
peaceful calumet as the strangers approached. With this tribe 
they feasted, and presents were distributed. Its chief wore a 
serge cloak, which he said had been given to him by Tonty. 
This was the first incident which went far to convince them 
that they were at last stemming the current of the Mississippi. 
They got some fowl from the Indians, and were told that the 
orisfinal stock came from the shores of the western ocean. To 
increase their confidence in their identification of the river, they 
turned to the text of Hennepin, but failing to find all that this 
priest said of the river, they grew more and more satisfied that 
the Recollect was the liar which Europe was inclined to believe 
him. 

Some of the narratives of those who had been before them 
Tiie Hou- on tlie river mentioned the villages of the Iloumas, 
'""•'• and they actually came to one of these. They found 

a palisaded camp. Iberville says that it had a sort of tem- 
ple, built of upright logs, and smoothed with mud in the 
chinks. A conical roof made of canes was covered with painted 
figures. They counted about two hundred cabins around the 
temple, and saw a glass bottle which Tonty had left there. 
The French again raised a cross on the river-bank, and hung 
up the royal arms. 



40 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

Some of the Houmas went along with the French af? guides ^ 
They told Iberville that the Ascantia, a stream on the right, 
could be followed to the sea. At one place on the shore was a 
red-tree trunk, ornamented with the heads of fish and bear, 
indicating, it was said, the bounds between the Houmas and the 
Tonicas. Our modern Baton Rouge marks the spot. They were 
put to great labor in turning the bends against the current, and 
where they could they struck across the bayous. Their Baya- 
goula chieftain acted as an intercessor when they came to a 
new village, to which they usually announced their approach by 
the discharge of a gun. In some of these native hamlets they 
were entertained by chanting choirs and dancing-girls ; in all 
they were feasted. In their turn the French distributed pres- 
ents. Sometimes gifts of corn and meat were made on the 
part of the tribes. They heard of a people called the Quini- 
pissas, and Tonty was known to have been among such a tribe. 
A Taensas Indian spoke of a lai'ge affluent on the left. 

Red River. i o ' 

which proved to be the Eed River. The journal of 
Membre gave the order of the tribes to be encountered, but they 
found it difficult to make their observations agree with it. Pres- 
ently they learned that an Indian chief, who dwelt somewhere 
near the mouth of the Great Rivey, possessed a letter, intrusted 
to him by Tonty a good many years before, with injimctions 
to give it to a Frenchman who was expected to enter the 
river. It was in fact the letter, dated April 20, 1686, which 
Tonty'a Touty, tumiug back from the Gulf after his failure to 
**"*'^' find his chief, but hoping that La Salle might yet ap- 

pear, had left with the natives. If this letter could be found, 
or its existence proved, there would be scarcely a doubt that 
the Mississippi was discovered. 

Membre's journal seemed to indicate that he and Tonty had 
descended one of two channels where the river divided. They 
could find no such parting of the stream, and the Indians said 
there was no other descending river than the one they were 
following. With this doubt puzzling them, the boats were 
turned with the current, and they were soon gliding on in a 
way that made their progress a recreation. When they reached 

what in prehistoric times was very likely the main 
tia or iber- channel of the river, but was now a diverging outlet, 

viUe River. , , . ,. , , , . , 

already indicated to them on their way up as the 




[From Humphreys and Abbot's Basins of the 3Iississippi, etc., War Department, 1861. It 
shows the lower Mississippi and the Gulf coast. The water-shed oi the rivers flowing into the 
Gulf east of the Mississippi is bounded by a dotted line.] 



42 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

Ascantia, Iberville parted with his brother, and passed through 
this passage to Lake Poutchartrain, with four men in two 
canoes, seeking a new route to his ships. 

Bienville, with the other boats, followed the course by which 
they had ascended, and as he approached the deltas began to 
make inquiry for the letter of Tonty. The promise of a 
hatchet brought forward its possessor, and after fourteen years 
the paper fell into a Frenchman's hands. There was now no 
reasonable doubt that the Mississippi had been found at last. 

This exploration had occupied six weeks, and Bienville was 
only a few hours behind his brother in reaching the ships. 
They reported the welcome discovery of Tonty's letter, and 
that about twenty-five leagues up from the Gulf, Sauvole, one 
of the party, had found a spot on the eastern bank, high enough 
to be above the overflow, — an observation that eventually 
decided upon the place as the site of New Orleans. 

It was now necessary to find some convenient shore to seat 
the colony before the ships went back to France. One of 
them, Chateaumorand's frigate, had already sailed in February. 
Iberville began search for a site along the shores of what is 
now called Mississippi Sound ; but it offered few allurements, 
and the place he selected was but a sand-heap on the northern 
side of the sound. It was a peninsula at the entrance of a bay, 
and its prevailing aridness could have had no attractions for 
an agricultural colony, which unfortunately Iberville's was not. 
So here in an ungenerous spot rose the nine-foot pali- 

Fort Maure- i p -ri -»t • 

pas at sades of Fort Maurepas, and it was soon surrounded 

by the temporary huts of the little colony. The settle- 
ment, garrison included, numbered ninety souls, and took a 
name, Biloxi, from the neighboring tribe. The shallow waters 
of the sound prevented the near approach of the ships, and 
it proved a weary task to ferry the guns, forges, and the heavy 
stores a long distance from the vessels to the shore. There 
were a few patches of poor soil where they could plant beans 
and grain ; but their thoughts were much more upon the mines 
to the westward, of which some Spanish deserters had already 
told them. 

When the fort and habitations approached completion, Iber- 
ville and Surgeres prepared to depart. It was arranged that 
Sauvole should be left in command. Bienville was to be his 



I 



BILOXI. 43 

dejjuty. This ardent fellow, though but eighteen years of age, 
had already shown the courage which was yet to face years of 
trial in Louisiana. The chief and his associates left the fort 
on May 2, 1699, and proceeding to Ship Island, on the 

Ibsrville's 

next day, sailed thence. During the voyage, Iber- return and 

•n 11 f 1 • • 1 report. 

viile worked on a report or his operations, to be pre- 
sented to Pontchartrain, and dated it at Rochefort after his 
arrival July 3. He took occasion in it to berate " the Recol- 
lect [Hennepin] whose lying story had deceived every one. Our 
sufferings and lack of success," he adds, "• were owing to the 
time we spent in fruitless search for things which had no exist- 
ence but in his imagination." 

Meanwhile, life at Biloxi was far from pleasant. The heat 
and blinding reflection from the sand were intolerable. The 
worms were ruining their boats. The water was nauseating. 
Famine looked at them in a ghastly way, and vessels sent to 
San Domingo for supplies were still absent. With gloomy 
prospects before them, they were startled on July 1 Canadians 
to see some strange canoes. They brought nearly a ^"''"'em. 
score of other mouths to consume their fast decreasing supplies. 
The visitors were some Canadians who had accompanied two 
priests, Montigny and Davion. These fathers, with a third, 
St. Cosme, had entered the Illinois country from the Lakes the 
preceding year, and had come down the Mississippi under the 
escort of Tonty. St. Cosme tells us how helpful this faithful 
friend, " loved by all the bushrangers," had been to them. He 
adds that to have Tonty with them was a sure way to escape 
insults from the Indians. It shows how the Iroquois were 
terrorizing the shores of Lake Michigan at this time, when the 
missionary says that his party made a long detour to avoid 
them, while they were also obliged to take the Chicago portage, 
because the Foxes were rendering that by Green Bay unsafe. 

Tonty had parted with his friends near the mouth of the 
Arkansas River, and returned to his Rock, in the previous De- 
cember. Since then the priests had been on the lower Missis- 
sippi, ministering to the Taensas and Tonicas, and from them 
had heard of Iberville's arrival in the river. There was now 
for the much-tried colony a hope that the news of their coming- 
would yet reach Tonty and the French of the upper valley. 



44 



IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 



Their intercourse with the natives at Biloxi was now o;ettin2 
upon something like a friendly footing ; but there was 
a source of uneasiness when they learned that in a 
recent attack by the Chickasaws upon their savage neighbors 
these dreaded warriors had been led by white men. It showed 



Dangerous 
neighbors. 




COXE'S MAP, 



them that the English, probably from Carolina, were scouring 
the country to the north. Other signs of dangerous rivals soon 
followed. Bienville had found it not a long march to the east 
to reconnoitre the Spaniards at Pensacola. Later in August, 
he started west across Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi. 



THE ENGLISH IN THE RIVER. 



45 



Leaving the Ascantia, he turned down the stream, and on Sep- 
tember 15 met an English ship of twelve or fifteen Bienviiie 
guns. It was at a bend of the river known to this day onthf"^^'^^ 
as the English Turn. Bienville boarded the stranger, ^Mississippi. 
and found the commander — Barr or Bank, for the statements 




PUBLISHED 1722, 



are confused — one whom Bienville had encountered in Hud- 
son's Bay. The Englishman said he was searching for the 
Mississippi. It does not seem to be satisfactorily shown that 
the usual story is true, in which Bienville is represented as 
deceiving the visitor by telling him that the Mississippi was 



46 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

farther to the west. The English captain was not over urgent 
for his rights, and yielded to the French claim of prior posses- 
sion, though not without intimating that he might return later. 

The occasion of this English visit is now to be accounted for. 
Heath's and There had been a royal grant to Sir Robert Heath in 
coxe's grant. ^627, covcriug a stretch of the Carolina coast from 
31° to 36° north latitude, and extending westward under the 
sea-to-sea principle for which the English contended. Doctor 
Daniel Coxe had recently bought this patent of " Carolana," — 
as it was called in honor of Charles L, — understanding that 
it did not cover within those parallels what the Spaniards 
occupied at St. Augustine and in New Mexico. The property 
had come to Coxe directly from Lord Maltravers, the original 
purchaser from Heath. A year before, 1698, Coxe had sent a 
Colonel Welch to explore the country, and it was claimed that 
he had traveled from Charleston to the Mississippi. We find 
his route laid down on English maps, and a son of Coxe, in 
1722, published journals which were alleged to have been kept 
by those who made these inland trips. This publication was at 
a time when the younger Coxe was seeking to make the coun- 
try known, and was trying to induce immigration in order to 
render his heritage profitable. These, and other things in 
this " Carolana " book of 1722, have been much doubted, being 
looked upon as mere inventions contrived to bolster Coxe's 
claim against the French by asserting priority for English 
explorations. Some such pretensions were palpable invention, 
as when, to antedate the French occupation under La Salle, it 
was claimed that some English had traversed the length of the 
Mississippi in 1676. 

Coxe, the father, had proposed to found a commonwealth on 
his ]iatent, and had talked of a stock company to back it with 
eight thousand shares at five pounds each. He sought at the 
same time to catch the pious by an avowed intention to propa- 
gate the gospel among the Indians. In 1698, he had fitted out 
two armed ships, which took a company of French Huguenots 
and some English gentlemen, with the alleged object of settling 

Note. Tlie opposite map is from Mitchell's Map of the British Colonies (1755). It shows the 
westerly part of the supposed route of Colonel Welch through the Chickasaw country to the Mis- 
sissippi. The route leaves Charleston, S. C, crosses the Savannah at Fort Moore (Augusta), and 
extends to the west. 



48 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

and building a fort somewhere on the Mississippi. The expe- 
dition made its way to Charleston, where the new colonists 
found so much to attract them that they did not proceed far- 
ther. A single ship, however, actually went ahead to explore, 
and entering the river was the one met by Bienville at the Eng- 
lish Turn. 

It seemed to all but the French that this stray ship was the 
first really ocean-going vessel to enter the Great Kiver from the 
sea. The English captain never carried out his threat to return, 
and all the plans of settlement which Coxe had formed with 
the royal approval were broken up by the death of William III. 

So the French were, in fact, without a contestant on the side 
English o^ ^^^ Gidf ; but the future necessity of blocking the 
traders. passcs of the AUeghauies, to check the English as 
La Salle had contemplated, was prefigured in the information 
which Davion imparted to the anxious company at Biloxi, and 
which the Pascagoulas who visited Foi-t Maurepas confirmed. 
This was that English traders had for some time been using 
the trails over the Alleghanies, and were trafficking among the 
Choctaws and Chickasaws. 

Early in December, 1699, the cannon at Ship Island an- 
iberviiie's nouuccd tlic rctum of Iberville. He brought with 
arrival. Yivox sixty Canadian bushrangers and a store of pro- 
visions. He cheered Sauvole and Bienville with new commis- 
sions wdiicli the government had intrusted to him. Iberville 
himself was under instructions to discover what the country 
could furnish in furs, pearls, and ores, and to ascertain if a 
culture of silk were possible. 

He had brought with him an adventurous fellow, Juchereau 

de St. Denis, of whom we shall liear more. A ge- 
and Le ologist, Le Sucur by name, had been also sent over, 

and it was his mission to see what use he could make 
of the " green earth " which he had some years before discov- 
ered while exploring one of the upper and western affluents of 
the Mississippi. A party, including Iberville and Le Sueur, 
started towards Lake Pontchartrain, and here took their lighter 
boats across the morass to a bit of upland that seemed safe 

Note. The opposite map is from Danville's Carte de la Louisia7ie, 1732-1752, showing the 
position of tlie Bayagoulas, Houmas, etc. 



i 




[From Jefterys' Course of the 
Missis.nppi River from Baya- 
goulas to the Sea, 1759, showing 
the site of Fort La Boulaye 
and the first settlement on the 
river.] 










HOMANN, 1720 (?). 
[Showing the route of Tonty from the Chickasaw country.] 



52 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

from overflow. The episode of the English ship and the sto- 
Fort on the ^'^^^ ^^ English traders rendered it necessary to be 
Mississippi, prepared against attempts to eject them, and on this 
hisfher land Iberville determined to erect a fort. It was about 
fifty-four miles from the Gulf, and the site is marked on later 
maps. 

It was now January, 1700, and when the palisades were up, 
^Tonty Bienville was put in command. In February, while 

appears. ^^iQy were still at work on the fort, they were sur- 
prised by the appearance of Henri de Tonty, who came with 
boats loaded with peltry and manned by Canadian boatmen. 
He had left his Rock on the Illinois, and had stopped on the 
way to trade with the Arkansas Indians. 

While the tidings which Tonty brought were still fresh, Le 
Le Sueur's Sucur, witli tweuty men and some Indian guides, 
expedition, started to find his mines of green earth. He was no 
stranger in the country at the north, having spent six or seven 
years among the Sioux. During this period he had been a 
strong advocate of measures to frustrate the English attempts 
at opening trade along the Ohio. He had taken some chiefs 
of this distant nation to Quebec, and Frontenac had formally 
placed the Dacotah tribes under French protection. 

Concerning the expedition of which Le Sueur was now in 
charge we have a good account in Penicault's narrative, which 
is given more consecutively by Margry than in the uncertain 
English version by French, and this may be supplemented by 
the memoir of the Chevalier de Beaurain, also given in Margry. 

There was a new cause for disquiet when the party reaching 
the Arkansas found a Carolina trader at work. In August, they 
were at Lake Pepin, and saw the stockade built a few years 
before by Nicolas Perrot left standing for chance traders to 
occupy. In September, they had passed the Falls of St. An- 
thony and entered the St. Peter, now the Minnesota, River. 
Canoeing into one of its tributaries, the Blue Earth or Green 
Riv^er, as it was indiscriminately called, at a point a little above 
44° north latitude, as he supposed it, Le Sueur built a stockade, 
and called it after the royal farmer-general, Fort I'Huillior. 
This was in October, 1701. 

Slaughtering buffalo and freezing the flesh, Le Sueur's men 
began to lay in provisions. There was need of it, for seven 



LE SUEUR. 



53 



Canadian traders soon joined them and spent the winter, de- 
pending on Le Sueur's stores. The mine they had sought was 
close by, and they began to work it. Wandering Sioux passed, 
and they accumulated some skins by barter. 

When Callieres at Quebec heard of these doings of Le Sueur, 




:'"'.::v;' ^^^ 



by which the trade of the far west was diverted to the Missis- 
sippi, he wrote complainingiy to the ministry, and asked what 
was to become of poor Canada if such a course was to be per- 
mitted. It was hard, if not impossible, to enforce edicts in 



54 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

the wilderness, and, as Tonty's ventures had shown, trade had 
already indicated its future channels. 

In May, 1701, Le Sueur, loading his canoes with a portion 
of the green earth which he had dug out, — about four thousand 
pounds, — descended to the lower stations, leaving a garrison to 
hold the fort. Misfortune overtook him, and he never saw his 
fort or his mine again. The Sioux finally drove off his men, 
and the fort was abandoned. 

After Le Sueur had started up the river, Iberville proceeded 
leisurely northward from his fort. Anion sf the Baya- 

IberviUe i , i i i , /-,i • , • 

ascends the goulas he learned that the Chickasaws were getting 

Mississippi. ^ i 

iirearms irom the iLngiish. It was more than ever 
apparent, if the colonization upon which he had started was 
to succeed, that an effort must be made to combine the tribes 
of the Mississippi in alliance with the French. The passing 
through the low country with its monotonous canebrakes had 
^jjg little exhilaration iu it, but when the party reached the 

Natchez. elcvatcd territory of the Natchez, there were new sen- 
sations in store for them, not only in the air and scenery, but 
in the character of that people. This tribe were, perhaps, dis- 
tinctly sun-worshipers, though it is pretty evident from the 
modern researches that throughout the continent all Indians 
were accustomed to bend to the supreme orb, as recent scientists 
turn to it for the origin of light, heat, magnetism, and electri- 
city. Here, among the sun- worshipers, Iberville found St. 
Cosme conducting a mission. This priest, with Montigny and 
Davion, formed, as we have seen, the advance-guard of the 
church, doing from the side of Canada what Iberville was 
hoping to accomplish from below, so as to secure by the church, 
as well as by the influence of trade, the control of the valley. 

The rites of the Natchez, as the French saw them, both at- 
tracted and repelled them. There was enough of a sort of mock 
grandeur in them to make theorists associate these children of 
the sun with the Aztecs, and even with those early peoples of 
Mexico sometimes termed tlie Toltecs. There was the same 
constructive energy in raising earth mounds for their buildings 
which the native American showed almost everywhere. This 

Note. Tlie opposite map, from the Bibliotlieque Nationalo at Paris, is piven in Marcel's Repro- 
ductions, No. 17. It shows results of the explorations of La Salle, corrected by those of Ibervilla 




84 i. ?■* 
MPs 

e CO ** 



56 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

has influenced some ethnologists of a later day to trace a con* 
uection for them with the so-called mound-builders. Their 
government had some features which induced a belief in the 
despotism of their headmen, but American Indians were as 
much committee-ridden as the American people are to-day ; and 
it is doubtful if their polity varied from that of the rest of the 
aborigines of the continent in giving a kind of representative 
character to their civil control. 

Montigny, whose visit to Biloxi has been already mentioned, 

had accompanied St. Cosme to this region and was 

aiidtiie conductins^ a mission amono- the Taensas, a tribe 

Taeusas. 

upon one of that link of lakes which lay just west of 
the Mississippi. While Bienville stayed among the Natchez 
to prepare an expedition for the Red River, Iberville made 

Montigny a hurried visit. On his return, he found 

Bienville tt -ii i i i • n • i rr> 

on the Red *Bienville had his party well organized, ionty and 
St. Denis were to accompany him, and the chief object 
of the undertaking was to reconnoitre the Spanish posts in that 
direction, for as they understood the Indians, these rivals were 
established uj) the Red River. It was now March (1700). 
The country being naturally swampy and the spring not a 
favorable season, they returned without accomplishing their 
purpose. They went apparently about a hundred leagues be- 
yond the Natchitoches, the leading tribe upon the lower parts 
of the Red River. 

Tonty soon left his new friends, to go back to the Tonicas 
with presents. It was now agreed that Tonty and Davion 
should undertake to keep the Indians on the upper river from 
forming an English alliance, while Iberville guarded the lower 
The Indians ^Ivcr wltli a similar purpose. There was need of pre- 
at the north, clpltatc actloii at the north, for the English were be- 
coming active, since Robert Livingston was striving to bring 
about the occupation of Detroit as a vantage-ground for forcing 
a peace between the Iroquois and the western Indians, and in 
that way to bring them into support of the English schemes. 

In the Illinois country tlie dread of the Iro(pioIs had driven 
Kaskaakia ^lic mlssloii, wlicrc Father Pinet had been working, 
mission. fi-om the old Kaskaskia on the Illinois River to the 
site of the modern town of that name on the peninsula between 
the Kaskaskia River and the Mississippi, and two miles away 



THE INDIAN TRADE. 



57 



from the latter river. This transference, made under Jacques 
Gravier and Gabriel Marest, had probably been accomplished 
in the autumn of 1700. The mission thus became one of the 
earliest permanent settlements near the banks of the 



Traffic 



Great River, within easy support of the increasing on' the 
traffic of the French up and down the stream. This 



Mississippi. 




BIENVILLE. [From Margry.] 



traffic was soon to grow perceptibly under the policy which 
Callieres, the governor of Canada, was pursuing in consequence 
of orders from France ; namely, to diminish the number of posts 
in the western country, so as to avoid the cost of garrisons. It 
was thought that as a result the peltry would be taken down 



68 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

tlie Lakes to Montreal. As it turned out, the injunction worked 
quite as much to the advantage of the new trade springing up 
alono' the Mississippi, since the bushrangers, pursuing a contra- 
band trade with the Indians, better escaped police observations 
by carrying their skins down the Mississippi. All this soon 
improved the prospects of the new Louisiana colony. 

It was about this time, also, that Du Charleville, a kinsman 

of Bienville, sought, as we learn from Le Page du 
of the Pratz, to extend trade connections farther to the north 

by following up the Mississippi to its source. The 
story indicates that, leaving the Illinois, he went up to the 
Falls of St. Anthony and a hundred leagues beyond. Here he 
met a party of Sioux hunters, who had some reason for telling 
him that the distance from the falls to the source was equal to 
that from the falls to the sea. The exaggeration discouraged 
him, and the springs of the Great River were for a long period 
to remain unknown. 

At the source of the Ohio, the western outposts of the Iro- 
The quois Confederacy were held by the Senecas, mainly 

Iroquois. -jj |.|jg French interests, while the English supremacy 
was still maintained among the eastern portion of the league, 
nearer Albany. These remoter Indians had, in the summer of 
1700, been induced through French agency to make peace with 
the western tribes, not quite in the sj^irit of Livingston's pro- 
ject, and through this conciliation there was to be an exchange 
of prisoners. This bore hard on the Iroquois, as their inces- 
sant wars had depleted their fighting force, which they liad 
sought to replenish by the adoption of these same prisoners. 
The result was that the exchange was unequal, since the con- 
federates could only produce six warriors whom they had not 
adopted against the much greater number brought down to 
Montreal by the western tribes. Furthermore, the conference 
gave Callieres the opportunity which he desired of extolling 
French faith and denouncing English perfidy, and he made the 
most of it. He had good abettors in the Jesuits, for whom the 
way was now clear to settle in the Iroquois coiuitry. It was a 
question how long the Canadian governor coukl maintain the 
hold upon the confederates which he flattered himself he had 
now acquired. 







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60 IBERVILLE'S EXPEDITION. 

This condition of things at the north and northeast and the 
iberviue purposcs of the local governments, as well as the views 
jiississlppi entertained at Paris, were important aids to the new 
trade. movcmcnts on the lower Mississippi. Iberville, as 

we have seen, had pushed far enough to meet the traders and 
missionaries coming from the St. Lawrence valley. Moreover, 
he had derived encouragement from Tonty's conceptions of the 
drift of trade. He was consequently able, on the same day 
that Bienville started for the Red Kiver, to turn back from the 
Natchez with some confidence in the future of the Great Valley. 
When he reached Biloxi, his impressions were again confirmed, 
since the policy of Callieres was such that Louisiana would get 
most of the profit. This reassurance came from finding that 
another party of Canadian rangers had come with peltry for a 
market, flying from the restrictive measures which the Canadian 
government was enforcing at Mackinac. 

Late in May, 1700, Iberville, leaving Bienville to manage 
the colony, was again on shipboard bound for France, having 
apparently little apprehension of any trouble with the Spaniards. 
B aniardsat I* "^^^ ^^^* lo^g, liowcvcr, after he had gone before 
BUoxi. ^j^g governor of Pensacola ai3peared at Biloxi to pro- 

test against the French occupation of any territory along the 
Gulf shore. His claim foreboded peril, inasmuch as he asserted 
that Florida and Mexico were contiguous, and were not to be 
wedged apart by intruders. He was content at present to couch 
his protest in words merely. 

On the return voyage to Pensacola, the Spanish ships were 
wrecked, and such of the crews as escaped the waves were shortly 
afterward back in Biloxi, suppliants for relief. 



CHAPTER III. 

THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 
1700-1709. 

Iberville's movements on the lower Mississippi had so 
much aroused the Illinois tribes that they showed a disposition 
to move down the river to be nearer the new-comers, oravier and 
Father Gravier, who had left the Miami mission on ^^skaskia. 
September 8, 1700, encountered the Kaskaskias, a group of the 
Illinois, well on their migrating way ; but he finally prevailed 
upon their chiefs to stop at the modern Kaskaskia. The priest 
himself then started down the stream to see what was goimr on. 
Some Frenchmen accompanied him in five canoes. They went 
on, killing buffalo upon the banks and leavino^ their 

PI 1 T. • 1 1 p 1 Gravier de- 

carcasses for the wolves, rassing the mouth of the scendsthe 

nil r\i • r^ • • i Mississippi. 

river now called the Ohio, Cxravier mentions how that 
stream, known to him as the Ouabache (Wabash), is formed 
by three tributaries, the i^resent Wabash, the Ohio (above the 
confluence of the Wabash), and the affluent which comes from 
the southeast, upon which live the Shawnees, who trade with 
the English of Virginia and Carolina. The Indians at this 
time called the main river, debouching into the Mississippi, the 
Akansea, after a tribe formerly dwelling there, but which was 
now seated farther down the Mississippi. 

As Gravier went on, he tells us that he actually boxed the 
compass with the windings of the current. In one place he 
found some Mohegans, of that New England race which had 
fled west after Philip's war, and who had been faithful some 
years earlier to La Salle. They were still trading their com- 
modities with the English, and the English guns, which he 
soon after found among the Akanseas in their new home, told 
of further inter-tribal traffic, if not of direct contact with the 
Carolina traders. The priest found among these Akanseas 



62 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

some who recollected the advent of Marquette, then nearly a 
score of years gone by. The party stopped awhile for a visit 
to Davion and St. Cosme among the Tonicas, and it was late 
in November when they left the Natchez. They saw cocks and 
hens in their villages, and conjectured that the progenitors of 
these birds had been saved from the wreck of some Christian 
vessel on the Gulf coast. 

It was December 17 when the voyagers reached the French 
fort at Poverty Point, as it has since been called, having been 
sixty-eight days in coursing the Mississippi from the Illinois to 
its lower curves. In the following February, while still at Iber- 
ville's fort, Gravier wrote the letter which is our main authority 
for his descent of the river, and of which Dr. Shea has given 
us a translation. In the preference which Gravier expressed 
for the advantages of Biloxi — which he next visited — we have 
a premonition of the final abandonment of this desolate Missis- 
sippi stockade. 

During the autumn of 1700, and in the following winter, 
Iberville was . in France, considering: future plans. 

1700-1. . . ^ ^ 

Iberville in He was urgcd to pusli liis cxploratioiis westward to- 

France. . 

wards New Mexico, and he drew up a plan for reach- 
ing the Gulf of California. He had his eye, too, on the Spanish 
fort at Pensacola, — a vision seldom obscured to his successors, 
— and above aU he urged upon Pontchartrain the military 
defense of the Mississippi banks as making all these projects 
sure, and as giving a base for a still more important purpose. 
This was to push the English back upon Carolina and prevent 
their selling arms to the populous villages of the Cherokees. 

A popidation for Louisiana of a hundred and fifty all told, 
Po^t at and an unhealthy camp at Biloxi, — where Sauvole soon 
Mobile. ^jgj from the fever — was not promising, unless the 
home government was prepared to give large succors. At all 
events, a more salubrious post seemed a necessity, and a site, 
thought to secure it, was soon found at the head of Mobile 
Bay. Boisbriant was now sent thither, with a party, to con- 
struct a fort. 

Sauvole's death had brought Bienville from the Mississippi 
i^rviiie fort to take the general command in the dreary waste 
December ^f Biloxi, witli its bumiug sands and noxious damps, 
"'*^' and here Iberville found him when, on December 15, 



TONTY, LE SUEUR, IBERVILLE. 63 

1701, accompanied by another brother, Le Moyne de Serigny, 
he reached the colony. The change to the post at Mobile was 
at once ordered, but Iberville did not remain to see the new 
position in complete order, for another hurried visit to France 
intervened before, in March, 1702, he took again the control, 
and the course of events once more felt his influence. 

Tonty had come (March 25, 1702) from the up-country with 
a baud of Choctaws and Chickasaws in his train, jj^g Indians 
and it gave Iberville the opportunity to warn these Fre,*chand 
jarring neighbors that the English purposed to stir up ^°g^'^^- 
inter-tribal distrust till they exterminated each other. He 
urged them to a defensive alliance. At the same time he sent 
to Quebec to ask for missionaries to be sent among them as the 
best antidote to English intrigue. Turning to the other hand, 
he equally sought to work upon the fears of his Spanish neigh- 
bors by representing to them that the French occupation of this 
region meant in reality giving the Spaniards a barrier against 
the English. 

With complications on all sides, the founder of Louisiana, 
with his health undermined, was not destined to see 

1 • 1 in TT- 1 T ■'^^ Sueur's 

his work completed. His northernmost out])ost, Le fortaban- 

o » T^ uTT 'IT 1 I' T^ T 1 • doued. 1793. 

Sueur s r ort d Huillier, even before Helisle, using, as 
he says, the memoirs of that adventurer, signified its position on 
his new map of Louisiana (1703), had been abandoned for fear 
of the Sioux, and its destitute garrison were just now come to 
report their failure. It was not a grateful outcome of all Iber- 
ville's hopes of far-reaching influence throughout the Great Val- 
ley. Burdened with such disappointment he returned to France, 
never to see his colony again. Pontchartrain, indeed, iberviiie'a 
recognized his merit, when he made him "Commander i^st years. 
of the Colony of the Mississippi," but he felt that the title and 
the authority failed to carry with it the material aid, in conces- 
sions of land, in mines, and in negroes, which was necessary to 
make his control successful. 

He had intended to return, but the ship on which he was 
expected in August, 1703, brought word that he was too ill for 
the voyage. He lived for three years, and died July 9, 1706, 
at Havana, whither he had gone in command of a fleet for the 
purpose of driving the English from the West Indies, and 
harrying the Carolina coast. 



64 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

After tlie departure of his chief in 1702, Bienville was left 

to his own resources. The Indians in the up-country 

commaud. abovc Mobilc wBre active, and it was thought that 

1702. . ... . . 

the English were inciting the Alibamons to pillage. 
To chastise them, Bienville, taking Tonty and St. Denis as 
lieutenants, marched against them. His party suffered much, 
and got no real help from some Choctaws and Mobilians, who 
pretended to act as allies. The movement, therefore, failed ; 
but later he attempted another by water, and succeeded in burn- 
ing the enemy's camp in the night. 

Not long after, Bienville determined to abandon the fort on 
the Mississippi and concentrate his force at Mobile, where Fort 

St. Louis had already been built, above the modern 
tions with city. This union of his forces was not made too soon, 

for the tribes north of Mobile were becoming turbu- 
lent ; and it was convenient, if not just, to charge their uneasi- 
ness upon English machinations. There was perhaps more 
certainty in the Spanish intrigues to set the ChickasaAvs upon 
the Choctaws, and as the latter were generally inclined to the 
French interest, Bienville tried to make the two tribes friends 
as the surest way to gain immunity from the enmity of the 
Chickasaws. The mediation did not prove long successful, 
for the Chickasaws found their profit in disposing of Choctaws 
g^^ taken in battle as slaves to the Carolinians. Later, 

Eugiish. when they drove the Tonicas upon the Houmas, there 
was thought to be another manifestation of English intrigue. 
Colonel Moore, with a body of Carolinians, was making the 
English name a dreaded one to every Indian who looked to the 
French for protection. 

Distractions like these, as rumors came in, served at least to 
Life at *^^^ ^^^ P*'^^ colouists at Mobile from their miseries. 

Mobile. These were not unmixed with apprehensions all the 
while lest the English should strike them by sea, supplementing 
the land attacks upon their Choctaw allies. A vessel arriving 
with marriageable damsels relieved life somewhat by a month 
of weddings. The poor craft, however, had touched at San Do- 
mingo and been Infected with yellow fever. The fearful mal- 
ady soon got a foothold, and among those who succumbed was 
the valiant Tonty, — not such an end as one would wish for his 
chivalrous nature. The ship which was the source of all these 



BIENVILLE AND MOBILE. 65 

loves and woes had not enough men escaping the fever to navi- 
gate her ^way, and some who had come to stay as soldiers, and 
were sorely needed, were obliged to return as seamen. Cloth- 
ing ran short, and attempts were made to supply it by spin- 
ning-bees. New ships would come, but somehow through the 
weary months the old miseries would recur. 

There was some relief when Spain became the ally of France 
in new hostilities, and there was an interchange of French and 
civilities between Mobile and Pensacola, while certain ^pamards. 
courteous graces brightened life ; but Bienville never forgot 
that Pensacola was a threat, though he had the skill to hide 
his hostile hoiDes. France had too much to do in Europe to 
grant the aid that was vital in Louisiana, and immigration did 
little to repair the losses of the colony. With all such symptoms 
of decadence, nothing but a united and respected government 
could give a hopeful turn to affairs, and this was wanting. 
Commandant and priest disagreed, and violent religious factions 
arose. Squads of bushrangers came down from the upper coun- 
try with peltry, but it was rather the promise than the fulfill- 
ment of trade. La Salle, the commissary, was intractable, and 
defied Bienville till the commander's life was hardly less unbear- 
able than that of the meanest hind who slunk away to the 
Indians to avoid starving. 

When tidings came in October, 1706, of Iberville's death at 
Havana, faction became rampant, and before many 
months had passed Bienville's friends had deserted Mowie. 

^ . 1706. 

him, and the poor man was powerless. The distressed 
colony possessed now less than three hundred inhabitants, and 
more than two thirds of these were soldiers and slaves, and 
nearly all, in some way, were pensioners of the public chest. It 
was apparent that the enemies of Bienville had triumphed, 
when orders were received for his recall. Presently, Diron 
d'Artaguette reached the colony (February, 1708). He was a 
man fit to shape a policy ; but a treacherous future confronted 
him, for there were ugly stories in the air of a projected combi- 
nation of the Cherokees and the Alibamons ag'ainst the French 
and their Mobilian allies. It was of course a disguise for 
English hostility, or at least was thought so. 



Condition of 



66 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

For some years, the rival interests of the French and English 
The Ohio centred in the region between the Ohio and the 
couutry. Lakes, which ever since the extinction of the Eries 
by the Iroquois in the middle of the preceding century had 
been almost untenanted except by savage hunters. Of late, 
there had been a movement among the aborigines to reoccupy 
this region. The danger forced the Virginians on the Atlantic 
slope to push settlements up toward the mountains, so as to 
hold the Appalachians like a barrier against the threatened and 
barbarous inroads. 

The easy portages which connected this Ohio territory with 
the basin of the St. Lawrence, and the natural tribute which 
the region could pay to the lower Mississippi, had soon caused 
an eager rivalry between the governments of Canada and Lou- 
isiana for its control, and made them suppliants in turn to the 
home government for the jurisdiction of it. 

Iberville's policy had far better grounds than that which Cal- 
iberviueand liercs had demonstrated in the St. Lawrence basin, 
caiiieres. jj^ ^ Communication to the minister at Paris, the 
Louisiana leader had pointed out the mistakes of the Canadian 
system in yielding to the hunter and excluding the tiller of 
the soil. This was a fatal blunder, he contended, if France 
had any hope of maintaining the country against the English. 
Iberville's plan for the control of the upper Mississippi basin 
was to establish posts near the mouths of the Missouri, the 
Ohio, and the Arkansas, and to make these stations permanent 
centres of French influence. He urged also at a later day to 
have the tribes of the Illinois settled along the banks of the 
lower Ohio. All this was a distinct denial of the English 
claim to this region, and just at the same time Governor Penn 
was expressing the views of the colonial governors, when he 
said that " we take the south side of the river [St. Lawrence] 
and lakes of Canada to be our just and reasonable bounda- 
ries." Bellomont of New York was also at this time plan- 
ning a reconnaissance through the Iroquois country along the 
verge of the Great Valley itself, and gave insti-uctions to that 
end to Colonel Eomer in September, 1700, bidding him par- 
ticularly " to go and view a well or sj)ring which is eight miles 
beyond the Sineks' [Senecas'] farther castle, which they have 
told me blazes up in a flame when a light coal or firebrand is 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH CLAIMS. 67 

put into it." These burning springs are over the divide, and 
their waters flow into the Alleghany. 

Meanwhile the rival powers of London and Paris were plan- 
ning counter movements to secure the aid of the Iro- English and 
quois for their respective purposes. Robert Living- counter 
ston, in May, 1701, while warning the Lords of Trade ''^'^™®' 
of the French purpose to ^ encompass the English " by posses- 
sion of the Mississippi basin, represented the Iroquois as a 
" constant barrier of defense between Virginia and Maryland 
and the French, and by their constant vigilance they had pre- 
vented the French making any descent that way." He fur- 
ther reports that the French were using the best artifices they 
could to weaken this alliance with the English, and complains 
that the selfish purposes of the Albany tradesmen were a check 
upon pioneering towards the west, because they thought that 
their own peltry trade would be intercepted by it. 

To counteract all such adverse influences, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Nanfan of New York is said to have entered 
upon a treaty July 9, 1701, with the confederates at treaty. 
Albany, by which the i^egion north of the Ohio and 
stretching to the Mississippi and Illinois rivers was ceded to the 
English king. The same treaty covered also a similar cession 
of the territory north of Lake Erie, stretching east to the Ot- 
tawa. The Iroquois based their right in this northern portion 
on their driving the Hurons out of it in 1650, and their hold 
on the southern part to their conquest of the Fries and others 
at a later period. The whole cession constituted what the Iro- 
quois called their beaver-hunting grounds. What purports to 
be this deed of 1701 has been printed in the New York Colo- 
nial Documents (iv. 908), setting forth that the grantors in 
return expected " to be protected therein by the crown of Eng- 
land ; " but there has been a suspicion that the document was in 
some part at least a device, trumped up at a later day, to ante- 
date a treaty which the French made at Montreal in the follow- 
ing August, and it is not easy to see how both can be 

TM -\ir 1 -tit Slontreal 

genuine. Ihe Montreal treaty was made under the treaty. 
urgent appeal of the Canadian company, who com- 
plained of the English inroads by the Alleghany and Ohio riv- 
ers. Callieres, as has been already indicated, had brought 
about the conciliation in it of the Iroquois and western tribes, 



68 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

and had bound the confederates by a promise to prevent the 
erection of English posts throughout their country. The French 
claimed, and not without warrant, that they had thus made 
themselves actually the arbiters of the entire Indian question, 
to which not only the Iroquois but the western Indians were 
parties. But Indian faith was dependent on annual gratuities, 
and, as the French soon found, not always sure at that. They 
had, however, secured what they most needed just at present, 
and that was the neutrality of the confederates in an impend- 
ing war with the English. They were not quite as success- 
ful with their own woodsmen, for the Canadian bushrangers 
were fully inclined to profit by the better opportunities of trade 
which were offered at Albany. Bellomont had been petitioned 
English ^y t^^o of them to be allowed to come to the English 
Frwfch''^'' mart, and these applicants said they were but the 
bushrangers, foreruuncrs of othcrs, — " thirty brave fellows laden 
with peltry," as they said ; and one Samuel York, who had been 
a prisoner in Canada, testified to the eagerness of these north- 
ern rangers to cast in their lot with the English. 



When, in September, James the Stuart exile died, and the 

War. 1702 



French king acknowledged the Pretender, war between 



England and France was inevitable. King William 
died in March, 1702 ; Cornbury, the royal governor of New 
York, arrived in May, but Queen Anne was not proclaimed 
there till June 17. War meanwhile had been declared on 
May 4, and when the news of the opening conflict reached 
Canada, Callieres strengthened the fortifications of Quebec, and 
set to work at the same time to turn the assured neutrality of 
the Iroquois into pronounced hostility to the English. Neither 
he nor Vaudreuil, who upon Callieres's death (1703) became 
governor, was able to do more than hold the confederates to 
their neutrality. 

It was important for England that the union of the French 
and Spanish crowns should not close the trade of the New World 
to English merchants ; and it soon became evident that a strug- 
gle was at hand. The French dreamed of the conquest of New 
York and Boston, and their emissaries had for some years been 
clandestinely making maps of the approach by sea to those 
ports. The English hoped that a small army and a few fri- 



THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 69 

gates would drive the French from Canada, and Dudley was 
urging- such an undertaking upon the Massachusetts Assembly, 
for it was these Canadian French who stood most in the way 
of the English in efforts to penetrate to the Mississippi by the 
Ohio rovite. 

The war meant all this, but even more, to the English colonies ; 
for it implied a better acquaintance of one colony 

War a.iid the 

with another, and New England was already, in the English 
Boston Neios-Letter (1704), superseding the old man- 
uscript methods of communicating intelligence from one govern- 
ment to another. The war was likely also to furnish common 
opportunities of defying the parliamentary navigation laws. It 
was the chance to teach the colonists the advantage of making 
their own woolens, and thus to emancipate them from the 
domination of the British merchant. 

It meant still more. Robert Livingston of New York looked 
forward to the time when, if supineness were allowed, the French, 
" by forts and settlements in the heart of the country and keep- 
ing a constant correspondence and communication with Misse- 
sepie," would be able " to make daily incursions upon our plan- 
tations." The remedy, to his mind, was some scheme of inter- 
colonial confederation. Livingston's views were not 

• /n 1 1 1 1 Cornbury 

Without supporters in Cornbury, the local governor, and 
and to some extent in a certain royal emissary. Colo- 
nel Quarry. The chief anxiety, however, of this attentive 
observer was lest the colonists, in cementing themselves to- 
gether by common aims, should dare to arrogate to themselves 
the prerogatives of Parliament. He was pretty sure this was 
the tendency in the Virginia Assembly. Quarry, nevertheless, 
was not blinded to the treacherous nature of an Iroquois alli- 
ance. " They are a very uncertain people to trust to, and do 
lie under very strong temptation from the French," he said. 
His remedy in the case was to drive the French from Canada, 
and he did not think the effort one of insuperable difficulties. 
It would bring to the English, he said, " the whole trade of the 
main, which will be of vast consequence." He little thought 
that the project would take sixty years. 

While Cornbury and the New Yorkers were thus dreaming 
of success and laying plots, Vaudreuil kept his trusty lieuten- 



70 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

ants among the Iroquois to watch the intrigues of the English. 

The Lords of Trade had been for some time urging Queen Anne 

to send Protestant missionaries among these confeder- 

The Iroquois . . <• • • i -r • ' 

and the atcs, as the best means or wrcum venting the Jesuits 

missions. . . cinii-r*! t • • 

now m possession oi the neld. Kobert L/ivmgston at 
the same time complained that " the Jesuit priests by their insin- 
uations and false pretenses were decoying a great many of our 
Indians, and have raised a great faction in their castles [pali- 
saded villages], and it is feared a great many more will follow 
unless they have ministers to instruct them in the Christian 
faith, of which they seem very fond." He adds that French 
emissaries were among them " all last winter, endeavoring to 
corrupt their affections from the English, and make ill impres- 
sions in their minds, to the apparent prejudice of our trade 
with them, which decays daily more and more." 

While the Iroquois were uncertain, it was the Canadian policy 
to spare the New York frontiers ; but there was no hesitancy in 
harrying the borders of New England, and the story of Deer- 
field and the ravages of the coast attest their ghastly success. 

The Senecas, the most westerly of the confederates, soon 
The west- patclicd up a pcacc with the Miamis, and to keep these 
em Indians. ^^^ ^.j^g morc distant Hurons and Ottawas in subjec- 
tion, Vaudreuil continued to dispatch to them his quieting mes- 
sages. ' These " speeches," nevertheless, had only partial effect. 
The English influence was not quelled, and the rival suits, as 
urged by the emissaries from Albany and Quebec, only divided 
the Miamis. Those who favored the English soon drove away 
a colony which Juchereau of Montreal had settled near the site 
of the modern Cairo in Illinois. It had been the pui'i^ose of 
this pioneer to open thereabouts mines of copper and lead, and 
to establish a barrier against any adventurous English daring to 
pass that way. 

It was the determined policy of the Canadian government to 
juchereau's withdraw f rom the distant west such posts as interfered 
colonies. yi\i\y the briuffino; of furs to the market farther down 
the St. Lawrence valley, and it was equally a satisfaction to the 
royal government to suppress any manufactures which in- 
fringed the monopoly of the home producers. Juchereau's pro- 
ceedings were hardly in harmony with such principles, for he 
not only was gathering skins, but had established a tannery to 



THE MIAMI TRADE. 71 

turn them into leather. The irrujjtion upon him, therefore, of 
the English faction among the Miamis was not altogether the 
sacrifice of French interests which it seemed. The Eng-lish 
sympathizers among these Indians did not accomplish all that 
Governor Cornbury had wished, for they failed to carry the 
tribe as a whole over to the English side. 

Vaudreuil, though he managed the Indian interests skill- 
fully, did not hesitate to use coercion with any recalci- 

•1 -\T T 1 1 • cc • 1 Vaudreuil 

trant tribe. JNor did his ettorts to square accounts with and New 
the English lead him beyond a courteous and seeming- 
willingness to negotiate a peace with Dudley of Massachusetts. 
These interchanges of diplomatic suavities were protracted 
through many months, and in 1708, when nothing had come of 
them, the New England frontiers were again ravaged. 

Once again aroused, the English compelled the entire Iro- 
quois confederacy, except the Senecas, to rise against the French, 
and the Jesuits were at last expelled from their country (1708), 
never to return. 

The English emissaries now pushed beyond the Iroquois coun- 
try, and the Miamis were induced to send some chiefs to Albany 
and enter into a pact for trade. Five years pf strenuous efforts 
for this object were thus crowned at last with success, ^rade with 
and Cornbury, in congratulating himself, gave a young ""^ Miamis. 
halfbreed, Montour,'" much of the credit for it. The French 
showed quite as much evidence of their belief in his agency by 
comiDassing his destruction the next year. This traffic with the 
Miamis was the formal beginning of a reorganized English 
trade in the northeastern parts of the Great Valley ; but it was 
destined to be maintained with difficulty against the incessant 
plottings of the French. 

Samuel Vetch, an active man, who had been much on the St. 
Lawrence, picking: up information to be useful in case 

o i Vetcli and 

of an attack on Quebec, was shortly after (1708) Qupbec. 
in England, urging such an incursion. His pleas 
were reinforced by Cornbury's representations, and Quarry 
warned the government that to delay the movement would very 
likely make it too late. The victories of Marlborough dis- 
posed the public to the undertaking. The rumors of the inten- 
tion which reached Quebec induced the Canadians to concen- 
trate their forces, and this had much to do with their with- 
drawal from the Iroquois country, as already related. 



72 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

England, as it turned out, found enough to do in Portugal, 
and the troops which were promised did not come over. The 
colonial forces lacking this support, the campaign of which so 
much was expected proved a failure, and the Boston government 
did not hesitate to believe that the aj^athy of New York arose 
from this desire to preserve the Canadian trade. 

In view of such a fiasco, Jeremy Dummer's ambitious argu- 
ment, that even Canada of right belonged to the British crown, 
seemed all the more ridiculous, and served rather to outrage the 
French than to mollify the disappointment of New England. 
Better than such pretense and the treaty of 1701 was the 
sturdy influence of the German Palatines, now begun 
to be felt along the Mohawk, and still more to be 
felt when, later on, they constituted the advance-guard of the 
Teutonic race in pushing towards the headwaters of the Alle- 
ghany and Monono^ahela. There was at the same 
Swiss. . '' * - „ . 

time a movement of the Swiss to purchase lands 

" beyond the Potomac and in Virginia," where it was supposed 
there were mines. 

We have seen that Livingston, in 1699, had been urging 
Cadiuac Governor Bellomont to seize upon the straits at De- 
De!troit. troit, as the fittest place from which to control trade 
1701. W\t\\ the western Indians. The advantages of this 

post had been equally apparent to Lomothe Cadillac, and he 
had the spirit to anticipate the English. 

Cadillac w^as a Catholic of Franciscan associations, who 
hated the Jesuits now and in the times to come, and he looked 
with a sinister eye upon their mission at Mackinac. A Jesuit 
was assigned to found a mission at the new post ; but Cadillac 
chose a Kecollect for his chaplain. It was thirty years since 
St. Lusson, with ambitious parade, had formally attached to the 
French crown all this upi^er region of the Lakes. The first civil 
and military government was now to be established in this great 
domain. 

In June, 1701, Cadillac"^ left Three Rivers with a hundred 
soldiers and colonists in twenty-five canoes. He took the Ot- 
tawa route to hide his movements from the Iroquois. By July 
24, the expedition was at the straits, and at the end of August 
his stockade was completed and named Fort Pontchartrain. 

The movement raised up enemies hard to conciliate. The 



I 



VAUDREUIL. 73 

Jesuits never liked to have settlements near tlieir missionary 
fields. The traders found a diminution of profits, if stores of 
merchandise were made too accessible to the savage. The oppo- 
sition of the Canadian packmen before long inured to the ben- 
efit not only of the English on the Atlantic, but of the French 
in Louisiana, for it prompted one Jean Pacaud to lease for 
seventy thousand francs a year the privileges of the old Com- 
pagnie des Indes, out of which was organized speedily ^^^ ^ ^.^ 
a new Compasfnie du Canada, under a concession of du cauada. 

1701. 

October 31, 1701. The new company thus secured the 
exclusive trade at Frontenac and Detroit, the latter post deriv- 
ing no advantage except that the company set up the estab- 
lishment there and the king maintained the garrison. 

Cadillac did not hear of this project till the following July 
(1702). He protested, and got some modification of the com- 
pany's power. He even importuned Pontchartrain for the abol- 
ishment of the company and a separate government for Detroit. 
Th^e organization still had enough of prescriptive rights to in- 
cense the old traders. This class would not have been averse 
to bring on an Iroquois war, if Detroit was to disappear in the 
conflict. In this they were at one with the English at Albany, 
and it is sometimes alleged that a fire in the Detroit stockade 
was a consequence of English influence. 

A natural result followed. An illicit traffic in peltries sprung 
up, and the French down the Mississippi and the English at 
Albany were soon profiting more than the company. Cadillac 
was hampered ; but the company was more so. 

Callieres died, and political power in Canada passed into the 
hands of Vaudreuil, who was so connected by ties of vaudreuii 
blood with some of the directors of the new company g'*^^'""*"^- 
that the prospect, in Cadillac's eyes, grew gloomier still. The 
end, however, was nearer than he thought, and Pontchartrain 
proved powerful enough to displace the company. That minis- 
ter, in June, 1704, wrote from Versailles, placing Cadillac in 
power, and gave him some good advice to ponder over. 

The Jesuits were still a thorn. Cadillac wrote to Pontchar- 
train that the only way to keep peace with them was cadiuac in 
to do their bidding and hold his tongue. If relations ^°'"^^- 
in this way were jarring, it was hopeful to find the western 
tribes becoming: amenable to French influence to such a deoree 



74 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

that they were flocking to settle along the straits. Cadillac had 
need of their attachment before long ; and they served him well 
Hostile ^^ repelling an attack of the Sauks and Foxes. The 
tribes. hostility of tlicse warlike allies was and remained a 

serious impediment to the success of the French about the upper 
reaches of the Mississippi, and we have already noted how Le 
Sueur's followers on a branch of the Minnesota were driven 
away by the Sioux, ever a treacherous foe. 

The years that ensued under Cadillac's rule at Detroit were 
passed in continuous efforts to keep peace, with the Ottawas on 
the one hand, and with the Miamis on the other, who were always 
watching for opportunities to strike a blow. Detroit failed in 
the competition with Mackinac as a mart for furs, and the Eng- 
lish for the most part got the advantage with cheaper goods 
and better offers of skins. The Albany traders were quite con- 
tent with profits that were not lessened by the cost of maintain- 
ing the posts. 

The Bay of St. Louis or St. Bernard, on the Texan shore, is 
well round the northwestern curve of the Mexican Gulf, 
and towards the south. It is the spot where La Salle 
had sought to found his colony. His belief that he was near a 
western outlet of the Mississippi influenced the views of Minet, 
jtg his engineer, in delineating the southern bends of the 

cartograpiiy. Q^.g^t Rivcr, and gavc Franquelin the incentive to 
make a false course for its lower current. Even so late as the 
close of the eighteenth century, we find a survival of La Salle's 
mistake in the English Pilot (1794), of Mount and Page. It 
was left for Delisle, ojjportunely coming forward and proving 
himself the real founder of modern geographical science, to 
correct this misconception, but not wholly to eradicate it from 
the stock notions of the lesser cartographers. Indeed, it is 
surprising how prevalent the views of half a century before 
remained with the mere copyists. The maps of Jaillot, De 
\Vitt, Schenck, AUard, and Danekerts continued for ten years 
after the new developments mider Iberville to present the views 
of Sanson of fifty years aback. Their maps pertinaciously rep- 
resented incomplete outlines of Lakes Michigan and Superior, 
unmindful of the explorations of La Salle and the Jesuits. All 
that stood for the principal affluent of the Mexican Gulf on its 




SITES FROM PENSACOLA TO THE MOUTHS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. [After Delisle.] 
[It shows the site of the old fort on the Mississippi, abandoned for the new one at Mobile.] 



76 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

northern shore was a looped bay with a few short coast streams 
flowing into it. 

The general southern direction of the great current as Joliet 
Ma 8 of the reported it in 1673 was accepted by Hennepin in the 
Mississippi, slotted line of his honest and early map, but in his 
later dubious draft, disregarding the surveys of Iberville, if he 
knew them, Hennepin swung over to the views of Franquelin, 
and had been preceded in doing so by the Englishman, Edward 
Wells, in his maps. Another error of a still earlier day, and 
going back to the remoter Siianish explorations, had caused a 
confusion between the Bay of Mobile and the indentation of the 
Gulf shore, of which the Mississippi Sound of our day makes 
Espiritu ^ P^^^- "^^^ name Espiritu Santo, applied in the 
Santo. early days both to a bay and a river, is not always 

easy to identify with the modern geography, and we find it, 
even after the advent of Iberville, sometimes made to do duty 
for one or the other of such half-inclosed stretches of water. 

It was a relic of the original Spanish domination of the 
northern shore of the Gulf that their name of Florida 
continued for some time to apply, even with the 
French map-makers, to the region extending from the peninsula 
and St. Augustine to the confines of Mexico. Notwithstanding 
the claims which Iberville made for Louisiana bordering here 
on the Gulf, Delisle, who all the while was working on that 
commander's data, continued to apply the name of Florida to 
the territory between Carolina and Texas. It was left for the 
Belgian cartographer, Nicolas de Fer, to give the alternative 
appellation of " Louisiane ou Floride." 

There was at this tjme, among the French cartographers, a 

general agreement that the national claims were 

claims and bouudcd ou the cast by the Appalachians. De Fer 

maps. 

so recognizes the extent of French jurisdiction in his 
maps, and was even more liberal than Delisle, who at a later 
day was forced to reclaim for his king a region along the west- 
ern bounds of New York and Pennsylvania, which he had been 
content in some of his earlier maps to give to the English. 
Delisle even then did not attempt to push the French claims 
beyond the mountains into Carolina; but, for some reason, 

Note. A portion of Franquelin's map (in the Marine, reproduced by Marcel, No. 40), which 
shows his misconceptions, is opposite. 



•ou 






52>., 






LATIONS 



J ATT tojs 'ci™^xi^^iftdirro^rDES sio' 

OuiGcoufrton^ -^*. ^\ rt^C"^ jOcitameiieton' 



•^ 



BBS Sioux DE ''sm 

flJLJiUiES 



4 TONS 



PArS'J3EX'A"2<: 



^-M 



KVVtnd eoiucintai 



_ -JAIS DElXmrtDN '^■'^5/ 
'"UICAPOUX .^t' 



-7V-«fi»sj ^ 

pupappf Nation NATION'S^Bs Cusr^'fe^AiiUjELv _ 

iAlSETNJ^10lrtffiS--M^_;.:?S__i,»''-St 






l^ -KiV^ 



'm^zA^s \t 



m 



a 



.AISDELa 



^-^i."'-.- 



"^ 



N 



■".<,; 



DES 



ATIOK 
AN AMOS 



•^ 



'^<iU 



G 



OLPEDE 



Me 



XIQ 






78 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

Sclienck, the Dutch map-maker, in reissuing Delisle's map, 
stretched Florida or Louisiana far up toward the modern Vir- 
ginia. 

It shows how diverse interpretations could be put upon the 
same reports, when Delisle is always correct in making the 
Ohio and Wabash confluent streams, while De Fer puts them 
down as parallel affluents of the Mississippi. 

In his map of the upper Mississipj)i, published in 1703, 

Delisle profited by the information collected by Diduth, Peri'ot, 

and Le Sueur. Through such channels he obtained the stories 

of Indians who professed to have followed the Missis- 

Source of ,. . i-'i-iir.- 

the Missis- sippi to its sourcc, and placed it in latitude 49°, in a 
marshy region where it was linked with three small 
lakes, — a configuration which was continued in the maps well 
down through the century, and misled the American negotia- 
tors in the treaty of 1782. It was repeated by De Fer, though 
some contemporary cartographers, like the Dutchman, Schenck, 
were pretty sure in aU their maps to carry the fountains of the 
great river as high as 54° or 55° north latitude. They had 
about as little warrant for this as the French traders wander- 
ing among the Upper Sioux had when they detected Chinese 
somids in the savage gutturals. 

There were stories often repeated by adventurous traders, 
Trade with ^^^ t2le?, Credited to the Indians, which gave hopes that 
Spaniards, -yyegt of tlic Mississippi some productive trade could 
yet be opened with the Spaniards in New Mexico, and a way 
be found to a great western-flowing river. From the time when, 
in 1673, Marquette was inspired with the hope of carrying the 
gospel westward by the turbid current of the Missouri, there 
Missouri ^^^ t»een in many an adventurous breast a longing to 
^''""■- face its unknown dangers. That there was beyond a 

divide somewhere in these temperate latitudes a practicable pas- 
sage westward was readily accepted. Lugtenberg, in 1700, while 
illustrating his belief in the peopling of the New World by the 
Lost Tribes, had imagined a water-way from Lake Superior 
which connected with the fabled Straits of Anian. Delisle had 
placed a lake near the Missouri, from which the " Meseha^ipi ou 
Grande Riviere " flowed west. We know that in 1703 a party 
left Kaskaskia to follow up the Missouri, but we are ignorant 



I 




[From La Potherie's Histoire de VAmerique, 1722, showing how the mouth of the Misgi^ippi 
was misplaced, forty years after La Salle originated the error.] 



80 THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY. 

of its fate. A year later, some Canadians on that river heard 
stories of a western stream over the upper divide. In 1705, 
some miners went up the Missouri, and built a fort on an 
island above the confluence of the Osage.' Bienville soon after 
heard stories of the possibility of reaching by this route some 
nations who used horses. Sometimes the stories referred to 
white men ; and some of Bienville's officers, in 1708 and the 
year following, were planning an expedition to reach a source 
of the Missom'i which was said to be beyond the three or four 
hundred leagues already followed without encountering any 
Spaniards. Somewhere in this upper region it was believed that 
the Spaniards fomid copper, and there were floating stories that 
they carried the ore off on pack-mules. Up among the Sioux 
also the traders understood the Indians to speak of a westward 
flowing river. 

The most distinct 6i these stories were found in a book which 
Lahontan. Lahoutau" published at The Hague in 1703. This 
^™^' story-teller claimed that some fifteen years before he 

had found a stream entering the Mississijjpi near Lake Pepin, 
which came from the setting sun. By following its sluggish 
current he had come to a large lake, lying beneath the moun- 
tains, and beyond these highlands there were the sources of 
another river, which could be followed to the Pacific. The 
statement was specific and gained credence, and the wonders 
of it had doubtless something to do with causing the multifa- 
rious publication of the book in French, English, and German, 
which was put upon the market at The Hague, in London, 
Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Leipzig, for the next eight or ten 
years. For a while the story prospered, and it gained a quali- 
fied assent from De Fer. Delisle was inclined to believe it, 
but at a later day, importuned to discard it, he yielded to the 
arguments of Bobe against it. Homann, in 170G, puts this 
" Riviere longue " on his map. The English cartographers, 
Moll and Senex, gave it full play in their maj)S, though Senex 
finally rejected it. 

The impressions produced by what is now known to have been 
a studied deceit were hard to dispel, and in certain quarters 
the illusion did not vanish till the century was near its end. 

NoTB. The opposite map, taken from the U. S. Topographical map, of the region west of the 
Mississippi (1850) shows tlie Mille Lacs region and tlie continuity of tlie central trough of North 
America tluougb the upper Mississippi and the Red River of the North. 



^uii^|]jlitf"^*"q 




^14 3/3 f 3^ Q 



CHAPTER IV. 

CEOZAT AND TRADE. 

1710-1719. 

It had been determined in Paris to place La Forest in charge 
at Detroit, and to transfer Cadillac to Louisiana. On cadiiiac 
May 13, 1710, Pontchartrain notified the new gov- ^0^^"^^"* 
ernor of his ajjpointment. He received the message ^^^°- 
through Vaudreuil in September. A man of Cadillac's dispo- 
sition was neither happy nor at his best under the restraints 
which he had felt at Detroit. In June, 1711, he was ready for 
his journey, and asked for an escort. He was obliged, however, 
to return to France, and reembark for his new post, and vari- 
ous delays prevented his reaching it before May, 1713. inLouisi- 
He had left a discouraging prospect at Detroit, and ^"^' ^^^^' 
the one he found before him on the Gulf was hardly less dis- 
heartening. The colony had been reduced by disease to scarcely 
more than four hundred whites and about twenty negro slaves. 
For two years there had been a succession of miseries. D'Ar- 
taguette, before his return to France, could do nothing but give 
the home government good advice ; and it availed little. His 
better associates had died or returned to Europe. Food was 
so scarce that the men wandered off among the Indi- condition of 
ans for a livelihood. The English made an attack on ">e country. 
Dauphine Island, and the community was in constant appre- 
hension of other inroads. They had not infrequent grounds to 
fear that deserters disclosed their weakness to their enemies. 
The Choctaws professed to be friendly, but if the Chickasaws 
and their allies failed of their purpose with these neighbors of 
the French by friendly solicitation, they were always ready to 
use the tomahawk, and they trusted to the English leadership 
in any event. 

With all these environments of danger and distress, it was 



84 



CROZAT AND TRADE. 



not strange the colony suffered from the loss of 
Theiiiinoia members, who sought better fortune 
country. gippj. Viucenues had been founded on 
Father Mermet, and held out lures for settlers, 
m these upper regions were beginning to thrive, 
were increasing about them. There was one at 



some of its best 
up the Missis- 
tlie Wabash by 
The missions 
and habitations 
St. Joseph's for 





Illinois 
tribes. 



FRENCH SOLMERS, 1710. 

the Miamis'and Pottawattamies. Another was at Peoria; but 
the most successfiU was among the Kaskaskias, at their new 
settlement near the Mississippi. The effect of this priestly 
influence had become perceptible among the Illinois 
Indians, and they had grown far less barbarous than 
any other tribe. They used ploughs, and in other practices 
were assuming habits of civilization. The Jesuits taught them 
the use of windmills, and the Kaskaskias, one of the Illinois 
tribes, constructed treadmills, and ran them by horses. They 
obtained these animals by inter-tribal exchanges from a stock 
reared among the distant Spaniards of New Mexico. The little 



CADILLAC AND CROZAT. 85 

settlemeut at Kaskaskia quickly took on an air of permanence, 
and we very soon find that they were adopting permanent land 
records. 

All these amenities of life were in sorry contrast to the 
absence of them near the Gulf, and in D'Artaguette's 

•T Louisiana. 

day that commander had urged a military post on 
the Ohio, to confront any advance upon Louisiana by the Eng- 
lish, who might be tempted to take advantage of their weak- 
ness. The conditions were not changed now that Cadillac held 
the reins. His petulancy and imperiousness were to prove ill 
calculated to atone for the defects of his people and the sorrows 
of their life. 

When, in May, 1713, La Jonquiere in a fifty-gun ship star- 
tled Mobile with his booming cannon, there was much 
beside the new governor, whom he had brought, to arrives. 
throw the poor colony into a condition of expecta- 
tion. There was a new invoice of marriageable damsels for 
one thing. There were also the tidings of the peace, settled 
at Utrecht. There was the promise of a fresh policy of trade 
for the colony, by virtue of a contract signed at Paris, on the 
14th of the previous September. 

This instrument gave to the Sieur Antoine Crozat the right to 
farm the trade of Louisiana for fifteen years. In the 
month followinq; the arrival of the news, Crozat's inspiaus. 

° . 1714. 

agents came to carry out the undertaking. The ter- 
ritory defined by the document as the field of Crozat's opera- 
tions gave the French claim to the limits of Louisiana, and is 
a starting-point for the pretensions of the French in Limits of 
this regard. It is described as including all the ter- lo'"^'='°*- 
ritory between Carolina and New Mexico, while at the same 
time it extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Illinois. Its 
area towards the east included the basin of what was called the 
Wabash or the St. Jerome, that is, the modern Ohio ; and 
towards the west it went up the St. Pierre or the Missouri. It 
made no claim to go beyond the sources of that river, though 
there has sometimes been a doubt if France, in ceding Louisi- 
ana in 1803 to the United States, did not touch the Pacific be- 
tween the bounds of England on the north and Spain on the 
south. Thus Louisiana, as maj)ped at this time, took the entire 
water-shed of the Mississij^pi, except between the Illinois and 



86 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

tlie sources of tlie Great River on its eastern side. At the 
south it also inckided the valleys of the coast streams which 
flowed into the Gidf, but it respected the rights of the Spaniards 
in the southwest, though it was sometimes claimed that the 
French territorial rights on a more northern parallel stretched 
to the Gulf of California. 

There was a disposition, moreover, on the part of the French 
government at this time not to be too definite in their descrip- 
tions of limits. A year or two later (January, 1715), Eaudot, 
in charge under Pontchartrain of the colonies, requested Delisle 
to remove the dots from his map which marked the limits of 
Louisiana, " as the court wishes it left indefinite, and does not 
want French maps to be quoted by foreign nations against us." 
Delisle generally marked the limits of Canada by the divide 
which bounded the St. Lawrence basin on the south, and drew 
those of Louisiana by the mountains which on the east confined 
the streams feeding the Mississippi. There is hardly exact cor- 
respondence in these respects among any of the contemporary 
maps delineating the interior of North America. 

Crozat had in antecedent years been very helpful to the 
Crozat's Frcncli king in replenishing his treasury with gold 
rights. ^^jj silver, and that sovereign hoped his subject's pros- 

perous ways might inure to the benefit of his American prov- 
ince. He was willing accordingly to give him manifold advan- 
tages. He allowed him to open mines, with a due reservation 
of the crown's share ; but he was compelled to recruit the colo- 
nists, and to send two ships with supplies every year. He was 
permitted, also, to send a single ship each twelvemonth to the 
coast of Guinea for negroes. Further, the charter provided 
that French law and customs should prevail in the province, 
" with the usages of the mayoralty and shrievalty of Paris." 

Crozat's agents at once began to establish posts upon all the 
The country pi'incipal rivers, and explorers were sent out to search 
explored. ^^^ miucs. Lead ore was found in southeastern Mis- 
souri, and the miners got their sujjplies from the Illinois coun- 
try, where a trading-post was set up. Another station, was 
placed at the modern Natchez, and De La Tour was sent four 
hundred miles up the Alabama River at the junction of the 
Coosa and Tallapoosa, to build a stockade, which was named 
Fort Toulouse. Some of Crozat's traders peneti-ated to the 



TREATY OF UTRECHT. 87 

Tennessee country, and built (1714) among the Shawnees a 
storehouse on a mound near where the modern Nashville 
stands. An old deserted stockade of the Indians, close by, was 
occupied as a dwelling. 

Deerskins and other peltries in large quantities were soon go- 
ing down the Mississippi. With no competitors in the colony, 
Crozat counted on large profits. His aims, however, were soon 
thwarted. The traders got better prices from the English and 
Spanish, and the skins found their way to Carolina and Pen- 
sacola. Crozat was soon complaining that the English were 
seducing the natives from the French interests both on the Red 
River and on the upper Mississippi. To add to his disappoint- 
ments, the Spaniards, playing into the hands of the English, 
warned Crozat's ships away from their Gulf ports, and the de- 
mand in that direction for his skins was cut off. A grinding 
monopoly could but create discontent in the province. Before 
Crozat's plans were fairly organized, the operations of the 
treaty which had iust brouoht peace debarred him 
from the importation of Airicans. its provisions had, 
in fact, transferred the control of the slave trade to England, a 
plan far-reaching enough to make the mother country responsi- 
ble for the long bondage of the negro in America. 

The treaty of Utrecht, after a truce which Bolingbroke had 
made, and which the victories of Marlborough had 

. Treaty of 

induced, was signed March 31 (April 11), 1713. utreciit. 
France did not by it yield all that four years earlier she 
might have been compelled to grant. At that time the English, 
who by the treaty had permission for a yearly ship to trade with 
the Spanish colonies, might very likely have enforced free 
trade. The South Sea Company might doubtless have secured a 
monopoly of the Spanish trade in America. Though the treaty 
when actually negotiated failed in this, it gave England enough 
to make her at once the first power in Europe, — a place which 
France had held for nearly fifty years. The Pretender was 
forced out of France, and the Protestant succession in England 
was recognized. The English king became sovereign of New- 
foundland and Acadia. In gaining these provinces, the British 
negotiators were not as wary as they shoidd have been, since 
they fixed the bounds of Acadia by its " ancient limits," which 



88 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

had all the vagueness that France delighted in, when she found 
occasion to define her own boundaries. Nor did it prove wise 
to leave Cape Breton in the hands of the French. The ques- 
tions involved were indeed difficidt and awkward, but perhaps 
less so than the contention which ensued. 

Previous to this the French would hardly have admitted that 
Bounds of ^^^® northern bounds of Canada — still theirs by the 
cauada. treaty, and with a population not much over eighteen 
thousand — stopped short of the north pole. Now the Hud- 
son Bay Company and the British government got the larger 
part of the basin of that inland sea. There was at last a defi- 
nite line, where the French had studiously avoided having one. 
It ran west from the Labrador coast on latitude 58° 30', but 
from Lake Mistassin it struck 49°, and so continued westward, 
— the origin of the line which forms the present boundary of 
the United States on the north along the westerly half of its 
extent. 

On August 18, 1713, Governor Hunter proclaimed the peace 
at New York, and on September 20 he communicated 

The Iroquois .^ iii c ^ 

and the it by messcuger to the assembled confederates at 
Onondaga. He warned them not to intercept the far 
nations of the MississijDi^i and the Lakes, coming to trade at 
Albany. The Indians on their jsart implored forgiveness for 
the Tuscaroras, who had been driven north by the Carolinians, 
and had now become a sixth nation in the Iroquois Confederacy. 
In the struggle of the French and English for the Missis- 
sippi valley, the language of the treaty of Utrecht respecting 
the Iroquois was by interpretation made of large importance in 
the future. The contracting nations agreed to respect the 
country of the tribes allied to each, and the Iroquois were taken 
under the protection of England. It soon became evident that 
the English intended to assume a protectorate over all the 
territory which the Iroquois claimed to have sub- 
subdued by dued. This included the countrv Ivins; beyond the 

the Iroquois. ini -p,. .. -'.'o./ 

Alleghany River, within which the Iroquois had de- 
stroyed the Fries, and from which they had driven other tribes, 
and which in the English interpretation stretched to the line of 
the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The earliest delineation of 
such a line we find at a later period, and after the English and 
French had made preparations for the great struggle. The 




[From Humphreys and Abbot's Basins of the Mississippi, etc., War Department, 1861. It shows 
the Red River basin and its connection with the Texas rivers on the south, and the Canadian and 
Kansas rivers on the north.] 



90 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

record as It stands, for instance, on Evans's map (1755) is 
accompanied by a legend : " The author has been something 
particular in representing the extent of the country of the con- 
federates, because whatever is such is expressly conceded to the 
English by treaty with the French." The extent of this claim 
would bring the Illinois tribes under English jurisdiction, while 
The Illinois ^^ reality the French were seated among them and 
and Foxes, -^^i^ ^j^gj^. sympathies. Ou the other hand, it left the 
Foxes, or such portion of them as were in AVisconsin, within 
the French dominion, while they in reality were allies of the 
Iroquois, and consequently friends of the English, with whom 
they would trade but for the vexatious interposition of the ubi- 
quitous French. 

The Foxes, with all the appliances of savage knavery, had 
not long before (1712) been forced into an attack on Detroit. 
The French had in turn repelled the assault by the a^d of the 
Hurons and Ottawas, when Du Boisson, with his sturdy little 
garrison of twenty men, secured a victory. But neither the 
French nor the Foxes forgot the event, and the Iroquois were 
held responsible for inciting the attack. Charlevoix, in com- 
paring the Foxes to the Iroquois, speaks of them as just " as 
brave, less politic, much fiercer, and the French have never 
been able to tame or subdue them." 

It was one of Crozat's objects to open trade with the Span- 
iards in New Mexico by an overland westward route. 
River The French government, as we have seen, had not 

been over-solicitous about defining very exactly the 
limits of Louisiana in this direction, ■ They preferred a vague 
claim, resting upon the acquaintance which La Salle had ac- 
quired with the country. This explorer had, in 1686, when 
among the Cenis, cut the roj^al arms upon a large tree, in token 
of possession. St. Denis, moreover, had for the last twelve years 
been making explorations along the valley of the Red River, 
but without great success. Father de Limoges, as early as 
1702, had established a mission among the river tribes. Squads 
of Canadians were known to have wandered towards New ^Nlex- 
ico in the hope of finding mines. 

When the Crozat ride began, it had been reported at Mobile 
that the Arkansas River had been followed to its source ; but 



[Broutin's Carle des Natchitoches, 1722, as '^^..j^ f '/« '' 
reproduced in Thomassy's Geologic pratique ^©e >^'*'!'i*''°,i' if 
rfe ?a Louisiane " 




92 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

it was scarcely probable at that time. The secrets of the west 
were indeed still to be probed, and Cadillac was ready to at- 
tempt it. So St. Denis was dispatched up the Red 
exploits. River to Natchitoches, whence he struck across the 
land to the region of the Cenis. Here he took for- 
mal possession of the country. Finding some savages ready to 
follow him, he pushed on towards the Rio Grande del Norte. 
In August, 1714, he found welcome at the mission of Saint 
Jean-Baptiste, near its banks, which had been founded by the 
Spaniards. Here St. Denis fell in love with the daughter — 
or, as some accounts say, the niece — of Raimond, the com- 
mander of a small body of Spanish troops, stationed there to 
protect the priests. This officer had already dispatched a mes- 
senger to headquarters with tidings of this French intruder, 
when the love affair happened, and rendered the situation 
rather embarrassing for the vigilant Raimond. After a while 
St. Denis was sent to the city of Mexico to render an account 
of himself. Here he agreed to go back with some missionaries 
to the Texan country, and he faithfully did so, finding it a con- 
venient opportunity to seek Raimond's post once more and 
marry his love. This done, he made his way to Mobile, and 
reported there in August, 1716. 

The adventure, if it had accomplished little for Louisiana, 
had satisfied the successful gallant. It had done more for the 
Spaniards, for it instigated greater alertness to save the Texan 
country for his Catholic majesty. The Spaniards had, in the 
days of La Salle, set up a claim that the inlet in which he had 
Baye de St. ^uilt his f ort, somctimcs called the Baye de St. Ber- 
La HarpJ!"** nard or St. Louis, or the Baye du Saint Esprit, was 
^^^^- quite within the Spanish bounds. The question of 

ownership was now manifestly to be determined by actual oc- 
cupation. The Spaniards had already placed a force among 
the Cenis to secure that position, and they were only waiting 
the coming of the annual fleet from Spain to have an available 
force to send to the bay. They hoped by its possession to con- 
trol the Indian trade along the rivers which have their outlets 
in its waters. 

The Spaniards dallied, and had done nothing when, in Au- 
gust, 1718, the directors of the Company of the West ordered 
that the bay should be seized. This was followed in November 




HOMANN, 1720 (?). 
[It shows the routes of St. Denis.] 



94 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

by a royal order, which further commanded that force should 

be used to retain possession if the Spaniards interfered. Mar- 

gry gives a relation of one Simars de Belle-isle, who claims that 

in 1719 he had been shipwrecked near the bay, and had been 

kept in captivity by the Indians. But such chance adventures 

served little more than to keep the French claim in mind, till 

in August, 1721, La Harpe was sent with instructions from 

Bienville to occupy the bay. He found the natives hostile, and 

the difficulties of maintaining a post so far from succor were 

so great that, on La Harpe's report, Bienville, in December, 

announced that the post had been abandoned. There were still 

those, however, who held that this was the true ingress to the 

Texan country, and Margry gives us a document in which Der- 

banne regrets that St. Bernard's Bay had not been the chief 

jDort of the province instead of Mobile. He claimed that the 

Spaniards had so alienated the savages about the bay that the 

French could easily ally them against their rivals. 

The river approach to this disputed Texan territory was more 

promising'. In October, 1716, St. Denis, now in Mo- 
st. Denis ^ 1 P . 1 . • 1 1 1 1 

on the Red bilc, and lormmg a partnership With othcrs, bought a 

River. 1716. • p t c r^ ■> i\t • ^ 

large quantity oi goods from Crozat s stores. \V ith a 
train carrying these supplies, he made a new move up the Red 
River. At Christmas he was among the Cenis, and found the 
Spaniards in possession. In the spring of 1717, he reached the 
mission where he had met his Spanish bride, and thence he 
passed on to the city of Mexico to reclaim some of his goods, 
which had been seized. 

St. Denis was a man of vain manners and heady temper, and 
soon found himself in a Spanish prison. In December he was 
released ; but his tongue was too free for his safety, and his 
wife's friends helped him escape the country. During the 
next spring (1719) he found his way to Isle Dauphine. 

Meanwhile Cadillac, fearing that the Spaniards would be 
Natchi- before him, sent a force to occupy Natchitoches is- 
toches. 1717. j.^j^j j^ ^j^g jjg^ jjj^^gj. (January, 1717). Cadillac 

felt it a matter of life and death to maintain this station, and 
he wrote full of gloomy forebodings lest the Spaniards should 
force the French back here. He was equally apprehensive that 
Spaniarda ^^^^ English ou the east would dislodge his interior set- 
at Adaea. tlcmcnts and leave the French little beyond Isle Dau- 



THE RED RIVER. 



95 



phine. The -Spaniards, on their part, had stoutly taken post at 
Adaes, and this outpost of the Spanish and that of the French 
at Natchitoches faced each other across a broad interval. The 
Spanish government hoped to recruit their settlement from the 
Canaries ; but few emigrants came. 




J^ala Qtauie 



THE RED RIVER REGION. 
[From Danville's Louisiane (Venice).] 



It was soon apparent that Natchitoches was not well situ- 
ated to allure the Spanish trade, and so, to picket the ^^ Harpe 
country beyond and open more direct communication. Red River 
La Harpe was sent out with a small force. He had a '^°^^^^y- 
wide region to traverse, and the country was infested with 



96 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

hordes of hostile savages, so that the transportation of merchan- 
dise and treasure was dangerous. La Harpe was armed with 
a letter from Bienville, addressed to the Spanish governor, in 
which the French commander declared it his wish to live in 
amity with his Spanish neighbors. Early in 1719, La Harpe 
built Fort St. Louis de Carlorette, not far from Natchitoches. 
Thus securing a new fortified base, he pushed toward the up- 
river tribes, hoping to make new alliances with them. He had 
heard of the Padoucas, said to be seated near the 
and Gran spriugs of the Arkausas, Red, and Colorado rivers, and 

Quiviia. 1 . , , 1 . X \ 

he was in hopes to reach their country. Just where 
the sources of the Colorado might lie was not so certain as of 
the other rivers, but it seemed j^robable that the whole region, 
assigned in common report to the Padoucas, was the country 
which the mai^-makers had long designated as Gran Quivira. 
Efforts to reach this country which lay beyond the Panis (Paw- 
nees) were still going on by way of the Missouri. The English 
geograjDher, Herman Moll, in a map of this time (1720) had 
put a legend upon this region to indicate that " many wander- 
ing nations of Indians are at the head of these rivers, who use 
horses and trade with the French and Spaniards." There had 
been enough chance contact with this people for La Harpe to 
know them to be powerful, counting something like two thou- 
sand horsemen. The Spaniards under De Soto had first en- 
countered them, and they were said to adorn their persons with 
gold and silver ornaments, which, as well as their horses, they 
had obtained from the Spaniards. 

La Harpe's party went on under great difficulties. The car- 
ries were swampy and infested with noxious animals. 
At last he reached the Nassonites, and began a fort 
among them, as he had been instructed to do. In June (1719) 
he received from the Spanish governor a reply to Bienville's 
letter, which he had dispatched in April, while among the 
Cenis. This answer resented the French invasion of Spanish 
territory. La Harpe, in his rejoinder, referred to the prior 
occupation of Texas by La Salle, and the later explorations of 
St. Denis. Further, he argued that there was no question about 
the French rights to the Mississippi basin, and the Nassonites, 
among whom the French were now sojourning, were dwellers on 
an affluent of the Great River, 




THE EXTREME WEST. 



[From a map by Palairet, improved by Delaroche, after Dauville, Mitchell, and Bellin. It 
shows " Qulvira ; " the " River of the West ; " the supposed connection of the Mississippi and 
Red River of the North ; the country of the Padoucas, Panis, etc.] 



98 CROZAT AND TRADE. 

Not deterred by tlie Spanish protests, La Harpe, getting 
some horses from the Indians, still pushed on, and 

The Arkan- 

sas River. September 3, he found himself beside the Arkansas 
River. A part of his purpose had been to discover 
the sources of the Red and Arkansas rivers, but in this he had 
failed. He learned that other Spanish settlements were higher 
up the Arkansas, and he believed that both rivers rose some- 
where in New Mexico. With this information or im^sression, 
he began his backward journey. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 

1714-1720. 

" Cadillac always says the opposite of what he believes," 
said Bienville, who had scant respect for his superior. The 
governor found others could practice the same art. cadiiiacand 
Towards the end of 1714, he received from the Illi- -^^niinoir 
nois what was represented to be ore from mines of ^"i^"^^- 
that region. Shortly afterwards, Cadillac was on his way up the 
river to inspect the wonderful deposits. It proved a deceit, and 
the specimen of silver had been carried there from New Mex- 
ico. After an absence of nearly a year, Cadillac returned to 
Mobile in October, 1715. 

Louis XIV. had died a few weeks before, and France was 
left with an enormous debt. There was need of eighty -nje debt of 
million livres to meet the obligations, and the royal ^''^"'^8- 
treasury could only command about nine millions. Mines or 
something else were needed, and the possibilities of Louisiana 
were soon to be made the most of by an extraordinary per- 
sonage. 

John Law stands in European history as the creator of one 
of the most marvelous crazes ever known. This 

. 1 T i John Law 

strange manifestation was as much a wonder to Law s and his 
contemporaries as it is to us. A tract (1720) \n\r- 
porting to emanate from an Englishman in the colonies, and 
reflecting upon the consequences of the French occupation of 
the Great Valley, speaks of Law's success, before he reached 
the precipice, as " one of the most prodigious events of any 
age," and sniffs at the skeptics. 

A Scotchman, extremely nimble of mind; but destitute of 
sane principles, nurtured a rake and a gambler, Law had fled 



100 



THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 



from London to Amsterdam to avoid arrest. Here liis quick 
perceptions seized on some methods wliicli he observed in the 
bank of Amsterdam as affording such great and possible de- 
velopments as are ever attractive to those holding vagabondish 




JOHN LAW. 

[From Hei G-roote Tafered, etc.] 

notions of finance. He accordingly laid before the Scottish 
parliament a plan for alluring his countrymen to the glorious 
capabilities of paper money. The canny Scots were not so easily 
captured, and he fell back to his old ways and sunk himself 
once more in dissipation. His hour was not yet come. 



Meanwhile the leaders of Louisiana, ignorant of what was 
in store, had enough to occupy their attention. The 
flat-headed Choctaws, instigated by Bienville, had 



Events in 
Louisiana. 



THE FIRST NATCHEZ WAR. 101 

pillaged some English traders, and brought them to Mobile. 
The French at this time hacl become particularly anxious over 
the increase of the English trade, and had been much alarmed 
with rej)orts of what Young and other English emissaries were 
doing along the Mississippi banks to gain the sympathy of the 
natives. The action of the Choctaws was simply an effort to 
show their steadfastness to the French interests. 

To keep all this region under closer surveillance, the French 
authorities had already given orders to construct some new 
stockades, — one above Mobile, another near the Natchez, and 
a third at the mouth of the Ohio. Bienville was makinsr 
ready to go up to the Natchez when word reached him of the 
fearful devastation which that tribe was makino; amonsf the 
French, trustfully scattered in their neighborhood. It 

. , The war 

was the beginning of the ruthless Natchez wars, and with the 

Natchez. 

we have the story in the narratives of Richebourg and 
Penicault. It should be remembered that both of these chron- 
iclers are partisans of Bienville in his quarrels with Cadillac. 
They both say that what had angered the tribe was the gov- 
ernor's impulsive rejection of the Natchez calumet, offered to 
him while passing up and down the Mississippi in his recent 
search for mines. Crozat in France sided with the enemies of 
Cadillac, and set in motion the influence which soon led to his 
recall. 

Bienville started up the river with such a force as the governor 
would spare. All overtures of atonement which the Natchez 
offered hira were rejected, unless they were accompanied by 
the surrender of the murderers or their heads. His persistence 
prevailed ; obedience was rendered, and he even got their help 
in building a stockade to awe them for the future, port 
This was the beginning of Fort Rosalie, the earliest ^°'^^'®- 
permanent station of the French in the Great Valley south of 
Kaskaskia. 

Bienville, on his return to Mobile, learned of Cadillac's 
recall. A new governor, L'Epinay, was to be sent out, but until 
he arrived Bienville held the chief power. This con- Bienviiie 
trol lasted from October, 1716, till March, 1717, when Si'ac. 
L'Epinay came, in company with some soldiers and ^'^*^"^^- 
emigrants. He had instructions to carry out stringently the 
monopoly of Crozat. 



102 THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 

Louisiana had now a population of about seven hundred, 
for Crozat had done little to increase their numbers. He 
had neglected even to augment the laboring population by 
the importation of blacks. The agricultural condition of the 
province had not, therefore, improved, and Crozat was in real- 
ity bankrupt after four years of unsuccessful commercial effort. 
Crozat sur- The rcucwed instructions to L'Epinay had been 
charte" merely a last gasp of power. Indeed, Crozat was 
^"^'- already prepared to seek relief by surrendering his 

charter, and this he actually did in August, 1717, before he 
could have known anything of the effect of his last injunctions. 

All the privileges which Crozat had enjoyed were now 

vested in a new organization known as " The Company of the 

West," or more popularly as " The Mississippi Com- 

Company of . . . c\ 

the West or pauv. Tlus bodv rcccivcd its charter September 6, 

Mississippi \ — .„^ . . 

Company. 1717. Its Capital stock was fixed in December at 

1717. . * . 

a hundred million livres. It was expected to restore 
the shattered finances of the kingdom by funding as rentes the 
outstanding Billets d^Etat^ the government guaranteeing four 
per cent, on its capital. This was to be Law's opportunity. 

An engrossing search for mines was no longer to imperil the 
Bienville prosperity of Louisiana, and the Spaniards were to be 
orthT""^ suffered to get on as best they could without the aid 
company. q£ j^j-ench ti'adc. Bienville was understood to repre- 
sent the best spirit in the province, which was to do for Louisi- 
ana what the Canadian leaders had failed to effect for Canada, 
— develop its agriculture and at the same time work its mines. 
In being constituted by the company the governor - general, 
Bienville felt that he was now to have his opportunity to make 
manifest the possibilities of the province. Through him the 
company could regulate all civil matters ; could build forts and 
arm vessels for its defense. It was claimed that frigates of 
thirty guns could patrol the Mississippi for six hundred leagues. 

This new life for Louisiana had a lease of twenty-five years, 
and it was to be invigorated by bringing into the country six 
thousand whites and half as many blacks. In five years the 
company did actually send over seven thousand settlers beside 
six hundred slaves from Guinea. 

Law had already attracted the attention of the Regent, and 
was given the chief control of the company. If inevitable dis- 



JOHN LAW. 



103 



aster overtook his stultified adherents in Europe, Louisiana at 
least got a start in something like the right direc- 

TT 1 1 • 1 iTf CI 1 Law's influ- 

tion. Under these impulses the lite ot the colony ence in 

1 11 i>i <• Louisiana. 

began to assume the character which comes irom set- 
tled labor, and lost many of the haphazard turns which come 
from vagrancy. 




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About sixteen months before the new company received its 
charter, Law had opened in Paris (May 2, 1716) j^^^^n 
a private bank of issue, which the government had ^''"^' ^^^^" 
favored as a means of absorbing in its capital seventy-five per 



104 THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 

cent, in its Billets d'Etat. Law treated it as an experiment, 
hojjing by his success to induce the government to make it a 
royal bank. The forming of the new company was an oppor- 
tune help to that end, and Law's position in it served to make 
it subservient to the wider interests of the kingdom. 

The main thing was to populate Louisiana, and create an 
apparent prosperity by numbers and labor on the soil. 

Concessions ^^,. ^,^ '' . „, , „„ , , 

of laud in lo this end concessions oi land were ottered to those 
who could send out settlers, and as a greater induce- 
ment to speculation the grantees were not required to accom- 
pany the immigrants. Law himself received a tract on the 
Arkansas River, and agreed to send out fifteen hundred per- 
sons. Unluckily, neither he nor others were compelled to be 
careful in choosing tenants. So we find a good part of the 
comers for a while to be vagrants and criminals, but on May 9, 
1720, an order was issued forbidding such recklessness. 

There was no lack of general interest in these measures, and 
one finds occasionally in cartographical collections a " Cours du 
Maps of Mississippi ou Saint Louis," as the map was called, 
Louisiana. prepared in 1718, to abet the fever, at the command 
of the company, by a leading geographer, Nicolas de Fer. 
Across the English Channel there was an echoing furor, and 
an old plate of John Senex's " Map of North America " was 
revamped to meet the demand for information about the new 
El Dorado. It was inscribed to Law. Herman Moll, the ris- 
ing English cartographer, inserted (1720) in his map a legend 
athwart the trans-Mississippi region, saying that " this country 
is full of mines." At a later day, 1755, Mitchell, in his great 
map made in the English interests when the final struggle was 
impending, recalled the fever in the legend : " Mines of Mara- 
meg, which gave rise to the famous Mississippi sclieme, 1719." 

Early in February, 1718, tlu-ee ships sent by the Company of 
Ships the West arrived at Dauphine Island. They brought 

arrive. 1718. ^^ Bicnvillc a commissiou, giving him the authority of 
commandant. There were already movements in progress for 
new surveys of the mouth of the Mississi])pi, so as to establish 
an entrance from the Gulf more practical)le than that by way 
of Lake Pontchartrain. Bienville, with his new powers, now 
sent a party to clear the ground for a trading-post at a spot 
on the river about a hundred miles from the Gulf, which had 










:... -7 .^> 



[This map is from Bowen and Gibson's North America, London, 1763, sliowing the country 
of the Black Padoucas, tlie Osages, and the alleged milling region upon which Law and his 
followers based their expectations of wealth.] 



106 THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 

already attracted the commandant's attention. This was on a 
New Or- curve of the shore where the banks were about ten 
leans. 1718. £ggj. abovc the stream. Back from this the land fell 
off, and when it reached Lake Pontchartrain there was but lit- 
tle to prevent its waters breaking over the swampy margin. It 
was nevertheless the most inviting site in the almost universal 
morass which lined the course of the river. The storehouses and 
traders' cabins with clay chimneys which soon showed them- 
selves were the beginning of the destined city of New Orleans. 
While everything was yet crude and unfinished, some ves- 
sels sent by the Mississippi Company landed in this infant 
colony (March 9) three companies of infantry and a small body 
of colonists. In August, three hundred more settlers came, 
and they were soon scattered up the river on the various conces- 
sions. Two men, to whose care in chronicling events we owe 
much of our knowledge of these early days in Louisiana, were 
among these grantees. One was Benard de la Harpe, who had 

a grant on the Red River, and who has left us a jour- 
and nal of events. The other was Le Page du Pratz, who 

settled near the Natchez, where he lived for eight years, 
and gathered much curious information from the Indians. All 
this he gave to the world in a Histoire de la Louisiane forty 
years later (1758). 

In March, 1719, five hundred negroes were landeds in the 
following October, a large body of Alsatians and other Germans 
arrived, a portion of whom at least had been sent by Law as 
settlers upon his own grants. If these developments prom- 
ised well, a check to them was already prepared in a war with 
Quadruple Spain. lu August, 1718, the representatives of Eng- 
WM with^''*^ land, France, Holland, and the Empire had formed a 
Spain. 1718. quadruple alliance, with the avowed purpose of uphold- 
ing the treaty of Utrecht and forcing Spain into an observance 
of its provisions. A declaration of war against Spain proved 
necessary, and on December 17 (January 9, 1719, New Style), 
hostilities were decided upon. The news reached Mobile in 
April, and Bienville at once organized a force to surprise Pen- 

sacola. After a brief investment by sea and land, 

Pensacola i i i t i • 

taken and hc took the placc and sent the prisoners to Havana. 

lost. 1719. 

The Spaniards seized the ships which had brought 
the prisoners, and during the summer returned and retook the 



108 THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 

town. They tried at the same time to make au impression on 
the French post at Dauphine Island, but the opportune arri- 
val of some ships from France completed the discomfiture 
of the assailants, and they withdrew. It was again Bienville's 
turn, and Pensacola once more fell, into his hands in Septem- 
ber, 1719. When Philip, the Spanish king, succumbed and 
joined the alliance, and there was peace in 1721, Pensacola 
was confirmed at last to its Spanish founders. 

Meanwhile, Law's projects were ripening for good, as every- 
Law's body seemed to think, — at least for everybody's 

Company, individual good, if not for the public good. The Re- 
gent, then in power, placed all sorts of privileges in the extended 
hands of Law. The shares of his company became so buoyant 
in the market that nobody dreamed of a precipice. The old 
stories of mines in Louisiana were revived, and their sites were 
figured, as we have seen, in the maps. Ingots were produced 
at the mint in evidence, — coming from Mexico, very likely. 

The one thing more for Law to do was to get all the money 
in France into a bank of royal prestige. Then loans would no 
longer be necessary. Interest and taxation would disappear. 
Both crown and people would happily discover that true credit 
is what the state gains by an excess of paper over bullion. On 
January 1, 1719, such a state of financial bliss came in with 
the new year. The Banque Generale of the Scotch 
Royaie. proplict bccamc the Banque Royale of France, with 
the Regent for sole proprietor. A few days later (Jan- 
uary 5), Law was proclaimed its director. He was allowed 
to make an unlimited circulation of notes, and the Company of 
the West existed to work them off. He was permitted to put a 
tariff upon all things bought and sold. In this way everj'thing 
was absorbed by it. 

In May, it was known in Louisiana that the Company of the 
West had engulfed the Companies of the East, and 

Company of " t t 

the Indies, bcforc lonu" the colony was directed to receive more 

1719. " . , 

paper and pay for it with all the coin it had. In 
June, 1719, the conglomerated companies took the name of the 
Company of the Indies, while the frenzy still grew on the Paris 
exchange. In July, the profits of the mint were added to its 

Note. The opposite view of Quinquempoix is from Net Groote Tofereel der Dicaasfieid, etc. 
Amsterdam, 1720. 



J 



110 THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE. 

resources, and this privilege was to run for nine years. The 
stock gave a new bound upward, only to be temporarily de- 
pressed, upon a rumor of Law's illness. An installment plan 
was introduced, and so the circle of victims was inordinately 
widened. By the end of the year (1719), there were half a 
million foreigners gesticidating in the streets of Paris, eager 
for something. " Paris," says the English pamphleteer already 
cited, " like the temple of Fortune among the heathen, is resorted 
to by innumerable crowds of every nation, quality, and condi- 
tion, and the dirty kennel of Quinquempoix has for some time 
been more frequented than the Royal Exchange of London." 

The capital stock, increased to six hundred thousand shares, 
rose to fifteen thousand francs a share and even higher, — some 
thousands per cent, advance in the end. It came to be known 
that three thousand millions of livres were borne on the face 
of its aggregated paper. • 

In January, 1720, Law became comptroller-general of the 

kingdom. In February, the company absorbed the 

comptroller- Bauquc Royalc with all its privileges. The entire 

general. p ^ t ? t 

money power oi the country was now at Law s dis- 
posal, and every tax came into his hands. But the fabric had 
begun to totter. Law was at his wits' end to keep this from 
being known. In May, he tried a hazardous expedient, and 
issued a royal decree to reduce values. Within a week he 
saw he had made a blunder, and the decree was revoked. It 
proved too late. Shrinking hope had succeeded to buoyant 
exhilaration. Law worried through the summer and autumn, 
uncertain how to turn. By December, he was sure that no 
Law oue could be longer deceived. He put eight hundred 

disappears, jiyrgg Jq j^jg pockct ouc day and disappeared. The end 
had come. 

As soon as the news of Law's flight reached Louisiana 
Germans in (Juuc, 1721), the Germans who had been sent to oc- 
Louisiana. cui)y his conccssiou became alarmed, and in the follow- 
ing November Charlevoix saw their deserted villages. To pacify 
them, a new grant was made by the authorities, twenty miles 
up the river from New Orleans, and what is to-day known as 
the " German Coast " along the stream marks wliere they set- 
tled. They began a new industry in supplying vegetables for 
the young capital of the province. 



* 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 
1710-1720. 

If La Harpe and St. Denis had failed in finding in the 
southwest an overland way to the South Sea, there was 
a vague hope that it might yet be revealed in the and a pas- 
northwest. If Lahontan's story of his Riviere Longue western 
was now generally discredited, since Delisle, the lead- 
ing geographer of France, had pronounced against it, there were, 
however, still a few credulous cartographers, like Homann of 
Nuremberg, and Moll the English map-maker, who placed it on 
their maps. The common opinion among those interested in 
this problem of a western way to the Pacific pointed rather to 
the Missouri, or perhaps to some way from Lake Superior by 
a higher latitude. It was a report that explorers had gone 
four hundred leagues up the Missouri without encountering 
any Spaniards, but that a hundred leagues farther tribes were 
reached who were warring with them. It was a natural appre- 
hension that Spanish success in an Indian war in this direction 
might enable these rivals to slip in before the French in this 
western route. Cadillac shared this fear, and was watchful to 
report all rumors from the far country to his superiors at Paris. 

A priest at Versailles, Father Bobe, who had a correspondent 
at Mobile, was acting just now as an intermediary between 
Raudot, one of the secretaries of Pontcharti-ain, and BoWand 
Delisle the cartographer, in the rectification of the ^®^'^i«- 
latter's maps. He tells the geographer that his letters from 
Louisiana speak of a populous country, which the Spaniards 
had discovered, towards the western sea, and suggests that 
Bourbonia would be a good name for it on the maps. 

In October, 1717, the Sieur Hubert made a report to the 
minister of the marine upon an alleged route by the Missouri, 



112 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

throiigli a rich mining country, and he supposed it to lead to a 
mountain barrier, where the springs of eastern and western 
flowing rivers could not be far apart. The notion was not a 
novel one, but it had always been veiled in conjecture. Delisle 
and others put near the eastern edges of their maps a lake, 
with an outlet towards the Pacific, but they avoided any direct 
presentation towards the west of the mouth of such rivers. 
Intimations in the book which Tonty discarded, and in the 
Carolana of Coxe, had more or less familiarized the reading 
public with like notions, which were soon to be reinforced in 
the great English map of Popple. 

Bourgmont, a trader who had been for fifteen years traffick- 
ing on the Missouri, was responsible for a story that the Panis 
(Pawnees) and their kindred in the remote west were trading 
with other peoples living about a great lake. This far-away race 
were represented as small of stature and dressed like Europeans. 
There was a suspicion that they might prove to be Chinese. 

It was thought by some to be a favorable condition of a roiite 
The Mis- ^J ^^^^ Missouri, that the tribes along its current were 
tolhVwest- represented to be more tractable than Indians gen- 
em sea. erally were, while more to the north the mutual hos- 
tilities of the Sioux and Christineaux rendered exploring pe- 
culiarly dangerous. Begon, the Canadian Intendant, informed 
(October 11, 1718) the Paris government that all hopes of a 
successful search for the western sea must be abandoned unless 
these savages could be forced into peace with each other. 

In a memorial which was prepared at Pai-is in 1718, outlin- 
ing a plan for giving Louisiana a dominating position in North 
America, it was made a part of the means to that end that the 
mines on the Missouri should be worked, and commerce with 
Mexico established from that base. Inasmuch, it went on to 
say, as the Missouri has one branch leading to the South Sea, 
trade can also be opened with Japan and China. 

In the summer and autumn of 1719, there were two adven- 
turers, incited by such stories as these, endeavoring 

LaHarpe "^ . ° 

on the to discovcr the meannio^ of them. One, La Harpe, 

Missouri. ,-.,...... . , „ 

had gone up the Mississip])i m August with a small 
escort, and was soon among the Osages on the Missouri, finding 

Note. The opposite cut is a section of Popple's great Mnp of the British, Empire in America 
(1732), sliowing the supposed lake and its outlet towards the west. 




GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, JUNE, 1763. 










H'^.-- 




Itj-i^ 










v^^^Jm*.- 









•ill**""' ,-». 






rFftXS^m^ 



3 t -laii.^ 



JJl 



4ij 1 --»s.!Lii)tlLU* 



Jte*~ 



!^ J « 













POPPLE, 1732. 



114 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

unicorns and other creatures suited to his fanciful expectations. 
Finally, on September 6, reaching a point on the Missouri 
among the Tonacaras (latitude 37° 21'), he judged the spot 
favorable to command the trade of the Padoucas and Spaniards. 
Perhaps he got rumors of Valverde, the governor of Santa Fe, 
who just about this time was pushing north into Colorado and 
Kansas, as far as any Spaniards had yet been. At this point 
La Harpe found a Chickasaw trader, and in his presence set 
up a pillar in token of French possession. This was on one 
branch of the Missouri, and he went no farther. 

The other explorer, Du Tisne, had followed another branch, 
and reached the Panis at a point supposed to be where 

Du Tisn6 

on the Mis- Fort Riley now stands. Here he planted the French 
standard forty leagues beyond the Osages. This peo- 
ple had unsuccessfully endeavored to bar his progress, and when 
he passed beyond them he found the Panis hostile, and was 
put to some anxiety in pacifying them. It proved to be difficult 
to obtain their consent to going farther to reach the Padoucas, 
whom they looked upon as foes, saying that they stood in the 
way of carrying on trade with the Spaniards. Du Tisne, how- 
ever, was too determined to be withstood, and he succeeded in 
erecting a column among the Padoucas on September 27, 1719. 

A more northern route had engaged the attention of the 
priest Bobe — already mentioned, — who, in the same letter in 
which he had asked Delisle to efface Lahontan's river from his 
maps, had referred to the possibility of discovering a western 

route from the head of the Mississippi. It was far 
the Missis- f rom Certain at this day where the sources of the Great 

River were. Cadillac placed its head in 48° north lat- 
itude, in a lake which had another outlet northward into what 
is now known as Lake Winnipeg, and this dual outflow was not 
an infrequent conception for some time to come. The latitude 
of this source, moreover, varied much, and, " according to Indian 
reports," there was found occasion among the geographers to 
place it anywhere from 47° to 55°. Bob^'s idea was that over 
a divide at this source there would be found a river flowing 
to the western sea. He added that on the borders of this sea, 
according to the report of the savages, there were bearded men 
" who pick up gold dust on the shore." This coveted strand 



A WESTERN WAY, 115 

lay, in his belief, far beyond many other nations, to whom the 
French had not yet come. These stories, as he affirmed, had 
been picked up among the Sioux. 

The passage, meanwhile, which had most engaged the atten- 
tion of the government was one lying beyond Lake Su- 
perior, in the direction which Iberville had followed yondLake 
from Hudson's Bay, twenty years before. It was the 
route by which ultimately Verendrye reached the Rocky Moun- 
tains. Vaudreuil had recommended this route, and it was 
approved by the Regent, June 26, 1717. It was recognized 
as too far distant from bases of supply to be sustained by the 
Indian trade, and that the government must consequently sup- 
port an exploration by grants. De la Noiie had already been 
dispatched to Lake Superior to gain information, and in 1717 
he had reestablished Duluth's old fort at the head of the lake. 
In September, 1718, Vaudreuil, under the orders he had re- 
ceived, sent forward a party to begin operations in earnest. 
These explorers soon found how pestilent the Sioux could be, 
and the Indians allied with the French in the exploration were 
under constant irritation at the difficulties which the Sioux in- 
terposed. The movement resulted in placing two new forts in 
this country, one upon the Lac des Christineaux or Lake of the 
Woods, and the other upon the Lac des Assinipoiles. This last 
was the water later known as Lake Winnipeg, which, 
as we have seen, was connected with the Mississippi peg and the 

^~ ..,,,. - T^ _^ , . T .1 Mississippi. 

in Cadillac s judgment. Momann, Van der Aa, Jail- 
lot, and other secondary cartographers, were constantly repre- 
senting it as the source of the Mississippi. 

The establishment of these forts served two purposes. They 
gave advanced positions for further progress. What was per- 
haps of more importance, they interposed a barrier to prevent 
the English from pushing west from Hudson's Bay, where they 
were now well established under the treaty of Utrecht. The 
forts might possibly sustain themselves by the Indian traffic ; 
but it was thought that the government would have to make 
an actual outlay of something like fifty thousand francsi, before 
this occidental sea could be reached. This was not, neverthe- 
less, an adequate calculation of the great cost which would have 
to be incurred in transporting goods from the ships at Montreal 
to so remote a region. 



116 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

In the original grant to Crozat, the Illinois region had been 
Michi an ^^^^ within the jurisdiction of New France, as the Que- 
peiiinsuia. |jgg government was officially called. This took all the 
country, roughly speaking, lying about the Illinois River and 
eastward to the Wabash, while the lower peninsula of Michigan 
fell naturally under the oversight of the commander at Detroit, 
though Lemaire and others extended Louisiana up to the straits. 
La Salle had crossed this peninsula along its southern edge at 
a perilous time, but we have little record of any acquaintance 
w^ith its interior. The map-makers, like Senex, drawing upon 
report or imagination, represented the divide between Michigan 
and Huron as an elevated terrace, along which stretched " a 
walk above two hundred miles in length." So much ignorance, 
in fact, prevailed, in spite of familiarity with the neighboring 
portages of Chicago and St. Josej)h, that Jaillot, in 1719, in a 
map dedicated to the king, slavishly followed the geography of 
Sanson (1656) and obliterated entirely Lake Michigan, putting 
in its place the Bay of the Puants (Green Bay) as a pocket of 
Lake Huron. 

The years which followed the treaty of Utrecht made an op- 
French portuuity for France, but the chance was lost. Ri- 
coiouization. y^lry witli England had failed to teach Ker govern- 
ment the secrets of successful colonization. It appears, how- 
ever, from some of the memorials presented to the crown, that 
the lesson was not lost upon all her subjects. She was content 
with her greater power over the savages. For the most part 
she continued to maintain this, despite the fact that in all arti- 
cles of trade, except firearms, powder, and a few trinkets, she 
charged the Indians more than the English. The French had 
failed, nevertheless, to discern what Champlain had clearly seen 
a hundred years before, that the very qualities which made their 
character attractive to the Indian unfitted it for the real life 
of a pioneer, if such an existence meant the subduing of the 
soil. 

When Louis XIV. died, on September 1, 1715, he told his 
Louis xnK grandson that he was conscious of his failure to be a 
dies. 1715. gQij^gg tQ jjjs people. The history of the French in 
America, indeed, gives constant tokens of his baleful influence 
in the colony, which might have been the brightest jewel of his 
crown. New France had been crushed by grinding monopolies, 



^Hyrijjm 




[From Sayer and Jefferys' reproduction of Danville's North America (London), showing the 
current conception of the Michigan peninsula.] 



118 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

and Louisiana was now undergoing the same degradation. 
This monopoly diverted energy from building up a state in 
order that it might sustain the aspirations of hucksters. 

The Iroquois played fast and loose with this Gallic instinct, 
The Iroquois ^^ gain what they could, and to let the English gain 
western morc. To keep the Indians of the west steadfast in 
tribes. ^YiQ French service, it was necessary either to bind 

these nearer tribes in peace, or raid their country to keep them at 
home. Truces were made and unmade according to the savage 
humor. The western fur trade ebbed and flowed accordingly. 
The French had reestablished a post at Mackinac (1714), but 
without great benefit to their trade, for the English gained 
most by it. Through the Iroquois influence the Foxes (Outa- 
gamies) and their associates about Green Bay were kept pretty 
steadily on the English side. The Illinois, as French allies, 
were fair game for them, and they occasionally pounced upon 
them, much to the annoyance of their white friends. The 
Foxes had not forgotten their disasters at Detroit, and had of 
late been waylaying French traders at the Green Bay portage. 
The Sauks and Sioux were with them in spirit, and the Iroquois 
waited their opportunity. The combination threatened a great 
peril ; the advice of Perrot, now an old man, for effecting a 
reconciliation, was not followed, and the Quebec government 

sent Louvigny in March, 1716, to chastise the Foxes. 
and the Hc was cnjoincd further, if possible, to exterminate 

them for being the ferocious instigators of the conspir- 
acy. The campaign was vigorously conducted, and in October 
Louvigny was back in Quebec, reporting, not the destruction, 
but the submission of the savages. He had clinched their sub- 
jection by a treaty, and brought with him some hostages to 
compel the observance of it. The Foxes, notwithstanding, 
proved treacherous, and nothing could assuage their implacable 
hostility. 

These dangers besetting the older portages led to a more 

general use of the passage by the Maumee and Wa- 
northern basli, as Coxc in liis Cciroluna informed the English 

public in 1722. The post at Vincennes probably be- 
came a recognized station at this time, though it was nearly 
twenty years before it can be said to have ripened into a social 
community. Tliis line of contact by the Maumee between the 



I 




THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY. 

[From a corner map in the large General Map of the British Middle Colonics, as corrected 
after Pownall, 1776.] 



120 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

two great valleys was the only one just now well guarded. 
That by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers had become well-nigh 
deserted. The routes near Chicago were also subject to savage 
raids, and La Salle's fort of Crevecoeur had been abandoned. 
The French tried to draw the Miamis to settle about and pro- 
tect the St. Joseph portage ; but the English offered superior 
inducements for them to cluster about their traders on the 
Maumee. To keep out the Iroquois, the French constructed a 
stockade at Ouiatanon (1720), on the north bank of the Wa- 
bash. East of the Maumee and all along the southern 

South shore c t t t^ • ^ ri mi 

of Lake sliorc ot L/akc Erie, the confederates were still a ter- 
ror. The French had not dared to establish a single 
post in this wide region, and Governor Spotswood of Virginia 
was eagerly urging the occupation of it by the English. 

This southern shore of Lake Erie was to remain little known 
for a long time. A canoe going west from Niagara River, on 
its way to Detroit, found this course thirty miles longer than 
the northern shore. This, added to the terror of the Iroquois, 
had made the southern banks an untracked wilderness, and no 
one had dared to follow the footsteps of La Salle athwart the 
region. The Ottawas and other tribes squatted about Detroit 
occasionally used the Sandusky portage to reach the Ohio on 
their raids. Except for this, there was little to alarm the vast 
herds of buffalo which roamed amid its water-courses. 

There were reasons, then, why the French government, revers- 
ing the provisions of Crozat's charter, was ready to 

The Illinois » ^ . t • • • i i 

country aiiucx the llluiois couiitry to Louisiana, in order that 

joined to . . . . , , ., -, 

Louisiana, its communicatioiis might be more easily preserved. 
A decree of the king in council, September 27, 1717, 
establishing this union, came at a period when renewed attention 
to that ujwiver country was awakened because of fresh accounts 
of it published in the Lettres Edifiantes. 

On February 9, Pierre Dugue Boisbriant, a cousin of Bien- 
Boisbriant villc, arrived at Mobile with a commission to coni- 
iuinois. mand in the Illinois. He was directed to build a fort 
1718. jj^ i^ig government. He was also to keep watch on 

the English, who might be attracted by the mines which he 
was expected to open. In October he started up the Missis- 
sippi in canoes, carrying a hundred men, and in December he 
was at Kaskaskia. He began his fort sixteen miles above that 



",tJ 



^ 



en 



.^SK, TIL. Vv T *??\\\. 



rP^ 
M 



ftdatne'-^ 







KASKASKIA AND KAHOKIA. 
[Part of a Map of the Course of the 3Iississippi, grave par Tardieu.'] 



122 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

place on the left bank of the Mississippi, and in the spring of 
1720 it was completed, and named Fort Chartres in 
Chartres. Compliment to the Regent of France. It was placed 
one mile from the river; but to-day its site is partly 
covered by the current. The United States land commissioners 
at Kaskaskia, December, 1809, rej)orted that the neighboring 
village, which originally stood " a small distance " below the 
fort, " had been mostly, if not wholly, washed away by the 
river." 

The next year, the mission at Kaskaskia was converted into 
a parish, — a sign of permanence in the life of the 

Kaskaskia o i 

and the upper valley which had been slow in coming. It was 
helped, doubtless, now by a temporary passion for 
mining, instigated by the fever which, as we have seen, Law 
was spreading in Paris. One Philippe Francois Kenault 
brought thither at this day some two hundred miners and five 
hundred slaves ; but Kaskaskia profited in the end more by the 
families which came in his train. The lead mines of the mod- 
ern Galena were opened, and life was active for a while. 

Canada had now a population of about twenty-three thousand. 
Some manufactures of coarse fabrics were beginninj^, 

Canada. a ai 

and the merchants of Quebec were allowed for the 
first time to open an exchange, and enjoy partial freedom in 
their business. It was a slight sign that new ways of life were 
beginning to operate ; but they were to be too much hampered 
for a generous competition with the English. 

There was need to withdraw the attention of Canada from 

this new activity in the Illinois country. All along 

Appalachian the Api^alachian rano;e, the natural bulwark of the 

border. -i-, . . 

English colonies, the French were constantly looking 
for English aggression, but only at the northern end in New 
York, and at the southern end below Carolina, was there im- 
minent danger. The English had long ingratiated themselves 
with the Indians who guarded those a]>proaches. Here, as Moll 
in his maps designated them, the " Charakeys and Iroquois " 
formed efficient outposts for the English. 

Though New England was territorially apart from this ex- 
tended frontier, she had a decided mission in helping to sustain 



QUEBEC THREATENED. 123 

the efficacy of the barrier. This mission was to disconcert any 
western aggression of the Canadians by keeping their -^^^ 
attention upon the northeast. To this end, in 1710, ^ugiand. 
Nicholson's fleet had sailed from Boston, and in October it 
took Port Koyal in Acadia. All the colonies north of Penn- 
sylvania only looked upon this success as an earnest of some- 
thing more. Their governors accordingly held a meeting at 
New London, and established their respective quotas for a 
more serious attack the next year. The English government, 
in the mean while, promised to help them with a naval contin- 
gent. Sir Hovenden Walker with a fleet reached Bos- 
ton in due time. With Samuel Vetch commanding armament 
the provincials, the armament sailed at the end of Quebec. 
July, 1711, to carry out the confident plans of St. 
John, the English minister. New England bore the odium of 
the failure, though, if Jeremy Dummer is to be believed, she 
did not deserve it. A royal favorite. General Hill, in command 
furnished quite enough incapacity to relieve the Yankees of the 
responsibility. Canada was, indeed, ill prepared ; but, fortu- 
nately for her, she was not put to a severe test. The elements 
needed no ally, and shattered Walker's fleet in the St. Law- 
rence (August). Everybody's courage oozed out, and no one 
dared to repair the loss which the gales had caused, and proceed 
to the attack. Sir Hovenden, with what was left of his fleet, 
turned and fled ; and in October the disgraced general was in 
England charging the New Englanders with his misfortunes. 

A land force, which had meanwhile gathered at Albany, 
waiting for happy tidings of a naval victory before advancing 
by Lake Champlain, never got farther, and Canada breathed 
freer. 

Thus New England in this chance failed to do her part iii the 
general attack, and New York remained inert. There was, per- 
haps, a too narrow policy of self-protection prevailing at Albany. 
At any rate, Massachusetts thought so, and (May 11, 1711) 
complained to Lord Dartmouth "of the criminal neutrality 
maintained by New York with the French Indians." 

Robert Hunter had shortly before (June 14, 1710) been 
transferred as governor from Virg^inia to New York. 

~ o New York. 

He knew that the southern colonies felt as bitterly 

toward New York as New England did ; for while the Iroquois, 



124 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

unchecked, raided down the Apjaalachians to Carolina, the New 
Yorkers treated them tenderly along- the Mohawk. Logan of 
Pennsylvania, in a memoir to the home government, a little 
later, recognized this ; but at the same time he insisted that the 
safety of the colonies as a whole depended on their maintaining 
the good-will of the Iroquois in New York. To this end, Gov- 
ernor Hunter, while he felt there was no effective union of the 
colonies, was hanging the silver crowns of Queen Anne about 
the necks of the Ii-oquois warriors in token of their obligations 
to fight on the English side. All the while, Hunter's assembly 
was earnestly representing to the throne that the French were 
scouring all the back country and misguiding the Indians. 
" He ought to be a cunning man who treats with the Indians," 
says an English writer at this point, " and therefore the French 
leave it to the Jesuits." Fortunately, the English had a match 
for the priest in Madame Montour,"" who was usefully employed 
Madame occasioually in conferences with the confederates. She 
Montour. ^^^ ^^^ daughter of a French Canadian by a Huron 
woman, but had been captured in youth by the Iroquois, and 
had since lived among them, married to an Oneida chief. The 
French never forgot her unnatural defection. 

It was in some respects a more striking influence upon the 
Iroquois which Schuyler exercised when he took five 
chiefs in Mohawk chicf s to England, and let them see the evi- 
dences of British power. They had their portraits 
taken, and a series of mezzotints following those pictures were 
favorite prints among our ancestors. Addison and Steele made 
the sachems play conspicuous parts in the scenic weeks of the 
Tatler and Spectator. 
It was not the policy of the French to let the provisions of 
the treaty of Utrecht have all their effect on the Iro- 
and the quois ; and the English made steady complaints of 
the insidious schemes of Joncaire and other French 
intrifmers to draw the confederates over to the French interests. 
It grew to be a constant assertion that " the French were de- 
bauching the Iroquois through the Jesuits and by other means." 
In July, 1715, Colonel Heathcote notified Governor Hunter 
that the French had entered the Onondaga country in force, 
for the purpose of erecting a fort there. He urged the colonial 
governments to build a line of posts along the frontier, "to 



THE IROQUOIS. 125 

answer the line of settlements the French have for some time 
been, and are now, making from the Mississippi to Canada." 
Schuyler, as acting governor, tried in return, but vmsuccessf ully, 
to induce the Onondagas to drive Joncaire from their villages. 
All the while, the confederates were not chary of their profes- 
sions of friendship, and in August, 1715, the record of one of 
their councils with the English represents them as saying, " We 
must acquaint you that we have a hatchet of our own, which we 
have had of old, and which has always been very successful and 
fortunate. It has subdued a great many nations of Indians, 
and we have made their habitations a wilderness and desolate, 
and that hatchet is still lying by us ready, and it is yours as 
well as ours." 

These rival bids for the confederates' alliance naturally divided 
the tribes, and at least a third of them had before this 

TOT ij*ii 1 •^'^^ Iroquois 

been drawn away to the St. Lawrence and fallen under on the st. 
the direct influence of the French. So we find Logan of 
Pennsylvania rather pitifully complaining, in 1718, that beyond 
what was left to them of the Iroquois, the English had hardly 
fifteen hundred Indians in their interests north of Carolina. 

The great Iroquois trail passed west from Albany, by succes- 
sive " castles " of the confederates, and so on to the iroquois 
Niagara portage. Another path branched off among *''^'^®" 
the Senecas and passed down the upper streams of the Alle- 
ghany to the Ohio. This was one of the routes along which 
occupation must be pressed, and the passage made familiar, if 
the traders from Albany were to join those from Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, and make good in the end the occupation of the 
Ohio valley. 

In these years, large numbers of Lutheran Palatines were 
seeking asylums in England, and near three thousand 

° *' . . Palatines. 

of them came to swell this westward tide along the 
Mohawk. Among them were the orphaned Zenger, who was 
later to champion a free press in Pennsylvania, and the parents 
of Conrad Weiser, who was to become the conspicuous interme- 
diary with the Ohio Indians when the decisive epoch came. 

The French were making ready to check this advance, and at 
a later day (1721), when Joncaire fortified a post at 

>T. J V ^' , , , ^ _ Niagara. 

JSiagara, the act was promptly resented by the Eng- 
lish as an encroachment. It was, however, as the occupants of 



126 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

the post contended, nothing more than a natural result of the 
possession of that strategical point by La Salle in the previous 
century. 

The English sought to counteract this movement, and pre- 
serve their trade with the remoter tribes, threatened 

OswcEO* 

through this occupation of Niagara, by planting their 
power at Oswego. Burnet, now the governor of New York, 
strove to make his assembly authorize the construction of a fort 
at that point ; but failing in this, he used his private means to 
do it. The governor at Quebec protested. He did not dare 
to eject the intruders, as he called them, but resorted to new 
intrigues with the Iroquois to make those Indians drive the 
English off. The ultimate result of this bold step of Burnet 
was that the French put two armed vessels on the lake, and 
tried to intercept the Indian trade by a post at the modern 
Toronto. The English, on the other hand, hoped to put a stop 
to the clandestine trade by which Albany supplied goods to the 
Montreal traders, now prohibited by law (1720). To effect 
this, they constructed Fort Lydius on the Hudson, fourteen 
miles from Lake George, — later to become better known as 
Fort Edward. 

While the rivals were playing off one measure against 
The Scotch- another along the Iroquois route, there was no inac- 
insh. ^Jqjj farther south. Along the Pennsylvania border, 

the Scotch-Irish were receiving new currents of their valiant 
blood. This North Irish people had been paid for their devo- 
tion to the Protestant succession in England by so much perse- 
cution for their non-conformity that they had sought relief by 
coming to the American colonies in large numbers. Governor 
Shute had tried to settle a part of those who had come to Mas- 
sachusetts along the Maine coast and throughout the northern 
frontiers, hoj^ing to make them bear the brunt of the Canadian 
onsets. The first immigration had landed in Boston in 1712. 
Continued raids of the Indians had so unsettled some of their 
abodes that a part of these northern frontiersmen were insti- 
gated to join their kindred in Pennsylvania. Some Palatine 
Germans, discontented with the aristocratic precmp- 

Germans. , . 

tions of lands about them, followed not long after from 
the Mohawk country, and thus the pioneer blood of the com- 



SPOTS WOOD OF VIRGINIA. 127 

munities pressing against the Alleghanies was doubly reinforced. 
The tide of emigration which was yet to surge through the moun- 
tain passes could have no hardier stocks for the task before it. 

All the while that these people and others, chiefly servants 
released from contracts, were spreading up the streams toward 
the mountains, the authorities of Pennsylvania kept out some 
adventurous youths, wandering afield, so as to observe what the 
French were doing along the Ohio. In 1718, Governor Keith 
of Pennsylvania was transmitting the reports of these scouts to 
the home government. At the same time he urged the p-ear of the 
Lords of Trade to establish a fort on Lake Erie. ^'^®°<'^- 
In his Carolana, Coxe was enforcing the dangers of delay, and 
picturing the risks which would unhappily result if by conni- 
vance of the Iroquois the French got foothold on the lake. 
He pointed out how the portages to the Susquehanna and the 
Juniata would open a way for an attack on Pennsylvania and 
Virginia. 

A bustling, active man was now ruling in Virginia. Gov- 
ernor Spotswood had been a soldier, and had been gpotswood 
wounded at Blenheim. To show his career in Virginia *° Virgmia. 
his many letters are fortunately preserved. He had early made 
inquiries of the Indians about the springs of the Potomac, and 
had been informed that they were in a lake beyond the moun- 
tains, whence the current issued and forced its way through the 
hilly barrier. Spotswood argued that by pushing up this valley 
and through this gorge, there was a fair chance of being able 
to cut the line of French communications from Canada to 
Louisiana. He thought that the English would have an advan- 
tage in maintaining posts in this trans-montane country over 
the French, inasmuch as their supplies would be carried by a 
shorter line. 

Spotswood was a loyal supporter of the English sea-to-sea 
charters. He claimed that the grant to Penn went to Li^jitg ^f 
the borders of Ontario, as some contemporary maps ^"'k'"'*- 
represent it. The Virginia charter, he contended, included all 
other territorial rights to the west, north of Carolina. In this 
he formulated the Virginia claim, which was only abandoned by 
her cession of the northwest lands at the close of the Kevolu- 
tionary "War. Under Spotswood's interpretation, this charter 
covei'ed the Great Lakes from Erie west, and took in a large 



128 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

part of the country bordering on the upper branches of the 
Mississippi. 

In announcing this, Spotswood showed abundant ignorance of 
what the French had done. " In which space westward of us," he 
says, in 1720, " I don't know that the French yet have any set- 
tlements, nor that any other European nation ever had. Neither 
is it probable that the French from their new plantations will 
be able in some years to reach the southern boundaries men- 
tioned in the charter of Virginia." He then contends that the 
French posts on the lower Mississippi are within the charter 
limits of Carolina. By the last advices, he adds, the French 
have a settlement at " Habbamalas," as he calls the Alabama 
region, where in fact the French had been seated for more 
than a decade. 

In one of his letters (December 10, 1710), Spotswood records 
TheTaiiey *^^* some ad venturers had recently gone not above a 
of Virginia, huudrcd milcs beyond the farthest settlements, and 
had ascended a mountain, before deemed inaccessible, where 
they had looked down into the valley of Virginia. Though the 
descent on the farther side seemed easy, they had not tried it 
because the season was late. Not far from the same time, De 
Graffenreid described ascending Sugar Loaf Mountain, near the 
sources of the Potomac, and said that he saw from the summit 
three distinct ranges, one higher than the other, with beautiful 
valleys lying between the nearer hills. 

There is little doubt that an occasional trader had for a long 
time before this pushed through gaps hereabouts, but with- 
out making public record of it. The Shawnees were in the 
lower parts of the valley, and are known to have received, and 
to have passed west, various products of English manufacture. 
Such adventurers could scarcely have missed observing the 
well-defined traces of the buffalo between gap and gap. A few 
years later (1715), the movement of the English in this direc- 
tion was exciting alarm among the French. Father Mermet, 
at Kaskaskia, even reported that the English were building 
forts. The French were trying to induce the Indians of the 
Wabash to avoid the English traders who were coming among 
them. These pioneers were in part from Virginia, which had 
become, next to Massachusetts, the most populous of the Eng- 
lish provinces. The great influx of Germans into Virginia 



KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE. 



129 



and his 
Knights of 
tlie Golden 
Horseshoe. 
171C. 



had already begun, and they were pushing back towards the 
mountains. 

In 1716, Spotswood made his famous reconnaissance with his 
Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, for such was the spotswood 
insignia with which he later decorated his compan- 
ions on this jaunt of jubilation. We have the journal 
of John Fontaine, who accompanied the governor, — 
meagre enough, but with Spotswood's letters it constitutes most 
of the knowledge which we have of the undertaking. Robert 
Beverly, the historian of Virginia, was another companion, but 
he was not so regardful of posterity. 








SPOTSWOOD'S ROUTE, 1716. [According to Fontaine's Journal.] 

It lay vipon Spotswood's mind to probe the secrets of this 
western barrier, and find the sources of the rivers which formed 
the great highways of the tide-water districts. He wished to 
discover if it were practicable to reach the great western lakes 
by passing these Appalachian gaps. The stray hunters and trad- 
ers who had essayed the task had done nothing to make their 
routes known. Fontaine's entry of August 20, 1716, is that 
at Williamsburg he " waited on the governor, who was in read- 
iness for an expedition over the Appalachian Mountains." On 
September 5, he writes : " We followed the windings of the 
James River, observing that it came from the very top of the 



130 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

mountains," and reached " to the very head, where it runs no 
bigger than a man's arm, from under a large stone. We drank 
King George's health, and all the Royal Family's, at the very 
top of the Appalachian Mountains." It seems evident that the 
party, which consisted of fifty persons and a train of pack- 
horses, were now in the Swift Run gap, which they had reached 
in thirty-six days from Williamsburg. " About a musket-shot 
from the spring," says Fontaine, " there is another which rises 
and runs down the other side. It goes westward, and we 
thought we could go down that way, but we met with such pro- 
digious precipices that we were obliged to return to the top 
again. We found some trees which had been formerly marked 
[blazed], I suppose, by the northern Indians, and following 
these trees we found a good safe descent." Going on seven 
miles and observing " the footing of elks and buffaloes and their 
beds," a large river flowing west was reached and crossed. 
They named it the Euphrates ; it was the modern Shenan- 
doah. " The governor had some graving irons, but could not 
grave anything, the stones were so hard. . . . He buried a 
bottle and a paper inclosed, on which he writ that he took pos- 
session of this place in the name of and for King George the 
First of England. We had a good dinner, drank the king's 
health in champagne, and fired a volley." Fontaine next goes 
on to enumerate an abundant variety of liquors in which they 
drank the health of others. The return trip was made leisurely, 
and when they reached Williamsburg, in September, the itiner- 
ary of their busy days showed that they had traversed a distance 
of four hundred and forty miles. 

Spotswood later made a report to the Lords of Trade, and 
said that " by the relation of the Indians, who frequent those 
parts, from the pass where I was, it is but three days' march to 
a great nation of Indians, living on a river which discharges 
itself in the Lake Erie ; that from the western sides of one of 
the small mountains which I saw that lake is very visible, and 
cannot therefore be above five days' march ; and that the way 
thither is also very practicable, the mountains to the westward 
of the Great Ridge being smaller than those I passed on the 
eastern side, which shows how easy a matter it is to gain posses- 
ion of these lakes." The governor then proceeds to consider 
the danger from the French occupation of this trans-montane 



CAROLINA. 131 

region. He apparently had not heard, as a contemporary Eng- 
lish map-maker had, of the " Tionontatecaga," who beyond the 
mountains inhabited eaves, so as " to defend themselves from 
the great heat " ! 

Spotswood's knowledge of the French beyond the Alleghanies 
had grown of late, and he now began to have a better concep- 
tion of the problem which the English had to solve. He says 
further : " The British jjlantations are in a manner surrounded 
by the [French] commerce with the numerous nations of Indi- 
ans settled on both sides of the lakes. They may not only en- 
gross the whole skin trade, but may, when they please, send out 
such bodies of Indians on the back of these plantations as may 
greatly distress his Majesty's subjects here. Should they mul- 
tiply their settlements along these lakes so as to join their do- 
minions of Canada to their new colony of Louisiana, they might 
even possess themselves of any of these plantations they pleased. 
Nature, 'tis true, has formed a barrier for us by that long 
chain of mountains which runs f i-om the back of South Carolina 
as far as New York, and which are only passable in some few 
places ; but even that natural defense may prove rather destruc- 
tive to us, if they are not possessed by us before they are 
known to them." He then urges that settlements should be 
formed on the lakes, and that the passes on the way to them 
be securely held. Above all he urges settlements on Lake 
Erie, " by which we shall not only share with the French in the 
commerce and friendship of these Indians inhabiting the banks 
of the lakes, but may be able to cut off or disturb the communi- 
cation between Canada and Louisiana, if a war should happen 
to break out . . . and we are nearer to support than they to 
attack. As this country [Virginia] is the nearest, . . . and as 
I flatter myself I have attained a more exact knowledge than 
any other Englishman yet has of the situation of the lakes, and 
the way through which they are most accessible overland, I 
shall be ready to undertake the executing this project if his 
Majesty thinks fit to approve of it." 

Spotswood was complaining in 1711 of the exactions put by 
the Carolina government upon the Virginia traders. Carolina 
These impositions had forced the packmen to pass by traders*' 
preference south into Carolina, and thence to follow ^^^^^^' 



132 



THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 



well-establlslied trails to the Cherokee and Chickasaw villages. 
These routes are shown by pricked lines in a map by Mol] 
(1720), and the paths connecting the sevei-al tribes are show^n on 
a map made at this time by the Indians themselves. The con- 
temporary majjs often put a legend along the Tennessee Eiver 
to the effect that it formed the usual route from Carolina to the 
Illinois. 




INDIAN MAP OF TRADERS' PATHS. 

The western routes had, however, suddenly become danger- 
indianwar. o^s. The Tuscai'oras, Yamassecs, and other tribes, 
'^^^- all along the frontier, had risen (1711) against the 

English, and the exposed settlements of Swiss and Palatines 



CAROLINA AND THE INDIANS. 133 

under the Carolina jurisdiction had begun to suifer. The con- 
flict lasted for more than two years, and checked the westward 
movement up the Neuse River. Colonel Moore, by a success- 
ful campaign, forced the Tuscaroras out of the country, and 
they joined, as has already been stated, their kinspeople, the 
Five Nations in New York, making a sixth in the Iroquois Con- 
federacy. Quiet followed in 1713, and the traders were once 
more on their travels. Penicault encountered three of them 
among the Natchez in 1714, An Englishman, Young by name, 
is said to have gone beyond the Mississippi to arouse the more 
distant tribes against the French, and at one time Bienville 
strove to embroil the Choctaws with the Chickasaws, simply 
because these latter Indians were manoeuvring in the English 
interest. The French averred that it was the policy of the 
English to set one tribe against another, so that they could profit 
by buying the prisoners to work as slaves on the Caro- Indians as 
lina plantations. This practice became so prevalent ®^^^®®" 
that in 1720 it was made a punishable offense. The English, 
on their part, charged the French with instigating the savages 
to pillage the traders. It is to be feared that no accusation of 
any kind can be safely denied against either nation. Rivalry 
in the American fur trade has always been the source of inhu- 
manity north and south. 

The English traders, in pressing their debtors among the 
nearer Indians and inciting new enmities, provoked Yamassee 
the Yamassee war, which again in 1715 involved the ^^^' ^^^^' 
Carolina borders in devastation, not without the suspicion 
that vagrant Virginia packmen supplied the marauders with 
guns and powder. 

Next to the rivalry of the French, that of the English colo- 
nies among themselves embittered the colonial life. 
It became a steady complaint in Carolina, as it did in and the 
Massachusetts, that the New Yorkers did not do all 
they could to prevent the ravages of the Iroquois on other 
borders than their own. It was now a grievance in Charles- 
ton that the confederates, through such remissness at Albany, 
were raiding south along the Appalachians and harassing the 
tribes friendly to the Carolinian interests. The Iroquois might 
have the ostensible purpose of carrying out Governor Hunter's 
injunction to attack the hostile tribes in the French interests ; 



134 THE BARRIERS OF LOUISIANA. 

but they were pretty sure to be loose in their discrimination 
when on their southern warpath. The complications were 
many which marked the deplorable conditions of the English 
in this Yaraassee war. They might have secured immunity 
from its evils if they had leagued themselves with their new 
enemies against the hated northern confederates, but this would 
have brought fresh disasters along the Appalachian borders in 
the alienation of the Iroquois. The confederates had already 
harbored the Tuscaroras, enemies of the south, and the Iroquois 
had no hesitancy in charging the war upon the Carolinians fail- 
ing to recompense those tribes who had assisted them in expell- 
ing the Tuscaroras. Despite these difficulties, the Iroquois were 
in the main kept to the English interests. They professed that 
their messengers went " with their lives in their hands," to 
uro-e the Choctaws to keep the peace, and followed the warning 
up with active participation on the English side. " If the war 
does not end soon," said Governor Hunter, " the confederates 
will go south in still greater force." 

The French were of course at the bottom of all these border 
liostilities, or at least the English never failed to think they 
were. The government of South Carolina, in 1716, was repeat- 
ing these stock charges against the French to the Lords of 
Trade. All the while the increased activity in Louisiana, under 
the influence of Law's system, was creating new grounds of 
anxiety in Carolina. " It is obvious," said the memo- 
rialists, " how formidable the French will grow there 
during peace, considering how industrious they are in fre- 
quently supplying their settlements with people." Late advices 
from France, they add, show how many colonists are going from 
Brest to their new colony of " Luciana in Mississippi, which by 
the small number of inhabitants in Carolina, the French had 
the opportunity to begin, and by the present troubles with the 
Indians are encouraged to increase." The memorial then pro- 
ceeds to advise that military posts be placed in the Bahamas and 
on Port Royal Island, supported by cruising vessels. These 
will be safeguards, it adds, which perhaps the gold mines in the 
Appalachians will suffice to maintain, if only explorations are 
made to discover such ore. 

Just at this juncture (1717) a movement was made to push 
settlements into the Appalachians on the grant made to Sir 



MARGRAVATE OF AZILIA. 135 

Robert Montgomery. This territory, which was designated as 
the Margravate of Azilia, lay between the Savannah 
and Altamaha rivers, and along the southern banks of 
the latter stream. The project Was to make such settlements a 
barrier against the French ; but settlers failed, and after three 
years the grant was reclaimed. As an alternative means of 
protection, Fort King George was now built at the forks of the 
Altamaha, where the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers unite. This 
fort, however, was not long maintained, and it was, in part at 
least, because the province was not able to defend the colony 
against its enemies, that South Carolina now changed its 
proprietary government for a royal one. At the same time, 
claimants under the old " Carolana " grant were petitioning the 
Lords of Trade to settle disputed bounds with the French by 
making the " Mischacebe by them styled Messisipy " the divi- 
sion between the two crowns. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

1720-1729. 

The student feels a certain confidence in facing the problems 
of New France as her leaders learned to know them, if 

Charlevoix i p i •■ t ' • t • -i • it 

and the Sea hc kceps Dcfore liim the imijressions which an intelli- 

of the West. 

gent observer like Charlevoix was i-eceiving in passing 
from Mackinac to the Gulf. Not one of these questions was 
older or of steadier recurrent interest than the riddle of the 
west. When Charlevoix heard that the climate was less se- 
vere at Lake Winnipeg than on the St. Lawrence, though it 

lav farther to the north, he did not fail to conjecture 

The trough '' • i i • e i i • p i 

of the that a neiffhbormo^ sea soitened the rigors of a boreal 

continent. • n?i i • <• i 

region, ihere was as yet no comprehension of that 
central longitudinal trough of the continent which could con- 
duct the southern winds even as far north as the Arctic circle ; 
and exploration towards the west by Lake Winnijjcg had as 
yet revealed nothing. 

The Duke of Orleans had interested himself in geographical 
questions, and it was in large part to satisfy his curiosity in 
regard to a route to the Sea of the West that Charlevoix had 
been dispatched to gather such information on this point as he 
could. This Jesuit priest landed in Canada in 1720, and pro- 
ceeded to Mackinac to begin his inquiries. A journal of his 
Charlevoix's movcmcnts and observations was published in his 
writings. well-known Histoire de la Nouvelle France (1744), 
and we have an official report, including his recommendations, 
in a letter addressed by him to the Count de Toulouse, January 
20, 1723. From Mackinac, July 21, 1721, he informed the 
minister that he had visited every post in the upper country 
except those on Lake Superior. He had made up for that 



I 




[From Lafitau's Mcetirs des Snnvages, Paris, 1724, showing the prevailing 
view as to the extreme northern position of the source of the Mississippi, and 
how the springs of the Missouri approached the western sea.] 



138 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

omission by studious inquiry of priest, trader, bushranger, and 
Indian as to what he could have learned had he gone there. 
Charlevoix's tendency was to be skeptical. He had heard the 
story of a ship working eastward from the Pacific 

Transconti- , . mii 

iientai througli uorthem water-ways till she reached the 

Atlantic above Newfoundland ; but he found, as he 
thought, that the story originated in a bad French translation of 
a Spanish book. Everywhere the Indians told him that there 
was a western-flowing river over the great divide which confined 
the sources of the Mississippi, Missouri, and St. Pierre rivers ; 
but he found the details so wild and contradictory that he never 
quite thought the story-tellers honest. Scoui'ing along the Mis- 
souri appeared to him to unfit every one for a truthful state- 
ment. La Harpe seemed to suspect that if Charlevoix had 
been a little more credulous he might better have divined the 
truth. What the Jesuit did believe seems to have 
Missouri been in a general way that the Missouri, somewhere 

route. . , . ° T 1 • 1 1 • 1 1 . 1 

in its springs, did interlock with other waters which 
sought towards the west an unknown sea near which there were 
white men. As it was evident the Sioux knew more' than any- 
body else about these contiguous fountains, missionaries among 
them might elicit the secret, if the church would only take the 
matter into its hands. 

This belief was, indeed, not unshared by many, layman and 
jjriest. French and English tracts, in 1720, quote Indian tes- 
timony that the source of the Missouri is in " a hill on the 
other side of which there is a torrent that, forming itself by 
degrees into a great river, takes its course westward and dis- 
charges itself into a large lake." Coxe, in his Carolana (1722), 
seems to have better conjectured the exact geographical rela- 
tion of the Missouri, when he makes one of its branches inter- 
lace with a stream' that we may now safely identify with the 
Columbia, while another branch, o]">ening the way among the 
Spaniards, led the explorer near the sources of other rivers 
wliich we may now believe to be the upper waters of the Colo- 
rado, the Arkansas, and the Eio Bravo del Norte. 

It was from Santa Fe, on the latter stream, that the Spaniards, 
„ . ^ in 1720, had started to ioin the Padoucas (Comanches) 

Spaniards •' ^ 

fromSaiita Hear the Kansas Rivcr and raid toward the Missouri. 

T6. 1720. rri • • • • -r< 

Their ultimate destination was thouuht to be Fort 




[This map is from Bowen and Gibson's North America, London, 1763, sJiowinpr the upper 
branches of the Missouri and the supposed country of the Padoucas, Pauis, and Kansas tribes. 
Tlie "Frencli route to the western Indians" touches the Mississippi opposite the mouth of 
the Wisconsin [Ouisconsing], whence Canada was reached by the Fox River portage and 
Green Bay.] 



THE MISSOURI RIVER. 141 

Chartres, and Boisbriant, then in command there, had timely 
notice of their approach. The purpose, doubtless, was to divert 
the Indian trade from the Illinois to Santa Fe. Boisbriant was 
relieved of anxiety when, in May, 1721, he learned that tlwin- 
vading Spaniards had fallen into a trap among the Osages and 
had been massacred. The question then of interest was : Could 
the route laid open by these i-aiders now be found ? 



On January 17, 1772, the Company of the Indies instructed 
M. de Bourgmont (Bourmont, Boismont, Bournion), 
who was already somewhat familiar with the country, on the m^s- 
to do what he could to hold the line of the Missouri 
against such inroads of the Spanish. He came to Louisiana, 
and passed up the Mississippi and Missouri, with the hope of 
establishing friendly relations with the Indians. This done, it 
might be easy to find a practicable route for traders to reach 
New Mexico. There was already some irregular trafficking in 
that direction. Exploration seemed to be turned toward this 
channel of trade in preference to discovering the " mountains of 
monstrous height," that were reported to be somewhere up the 
river near that source, which Peiiicault says no one had yet found. 

Bourgmont's first movement was to build a stockade on an 
island (since disappeared) in the Missouri, which he j-o^t 
called Fort Orleans. It was a base for further prog- Orleans, 
gress, and already settlers were passing li'p the stream. A body 
of Germans was thereabouts in 1723, and in the same year 
the earliest grant on the river was made to the Sieur Renard.'^ 
During the year before, Bienville had ordered Boisbriant to in- 
terpose somewhere on the Jiansas JJiver AJprt against Spanish 
intrusion, and later (August, 1723) he transmitted through 
Boisbriant to Bourgmont orders (dated January 17, 1722) to 
ascend the Missouri from his new fort, and establish another 
post better situated to engage the Spanish trade. He was di- 
rected to defend it, if necessary, against any force which might 
be sent from Santa Fe. To secure the Indians, he was ordered 
to dole out gifts to them, but in small quantities, in order to 
hold them in allegiance by the hope of more. 

Starting from a point near the modern Atchison, and pro- 

NoTE. The map on the two following pages is from Dr. James Smith's Some Considerations on 
the Consequetices of the French settling Colonies on the Mississippi. Loudou, 1720. 



144 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

J 
ceeding througli northern Kansas, Bourgmont approached the 

Padoticas or Padoucas late in June. He had broken down on the 
Comanches. jj^arch, and turned back, without accomplishing his 
purpose. Ill and dispirited, he reached his fort on the Missouri. 
Another effort succeeded better, and in November he was 
among the Padoucas, and was able to bring them to a pact, 
by which they agreed to open the way to the Spaniards through 
their territory. Suavity and a lavish bestowal of gifts accom- 
plished all that Bourgmont's instructions called for. The ques- 
tion was, how long the savage consent would hold good. 

Charlevoix tells us that in 1721 the French established an 
p-Q^ armed post at the mouth of the Fox River. They had 

Indians. ^^^g yg^ eucountcred no people whom they needed so 
much to overawe as the Foxes. For some years, these savages 
rendered it a fearful risk for trader or adventurer to traverse 
the country lying between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi. 
Allied with the Kickapoos, they seemed determined to bar every 
avenue to the Sioux, either for the packman or priest. With 
such vigilant enemies, every attempt to maintain communica- 
tion between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi through any 
territory frequented by these ubiquitous savages was daiiger- 
ous. They had been known to make devastating swoops almost 
under the walls of Fort Chartres. A crisis which Charlevoix ap- 
prehended seemed to impend in 1726, when the Mascoutins and 
Kickapoos had put a stop to the use of the Green Bay j^ortage. 
When affairs were the darkest, De Lignery succeeded at Mack- 
inac in bringing the Foxes to a peace, and they even agreed to 
spare as allies of the French the Illinois, whom they had been 
accustomed to worry. De Siette, who had succeeded Boisbriant 
in command at Fort Chartres, had little faith that the Foxes 
could be held to their promise. De Ligneiy was suspicious of 
their attempts to join the Iroquois, and did what he could to 
block their way to the confederates. 

With the Foxes thus tempoi^arily, at least, under surveillance, 
there was a chance that the Sioux could be better 

The Sioux. , 

managed. Recourse was accordingly had to Charle- 
voix's plan of reaching them through a mission. The borders 
of Lake Pepin, near enough to their territory to attract them, 
seemed the most eligible position for the effort. 



FORT BEAUHARNOIS. 145 

Father Guignas was selected for the work of the church, and 
Rene Boucher de la Perriere (or Perier), who had an evil name 
among the English for liis merciless inroads upon the New 
England borders, was put in charge of the secular part of the 
undertaking. 

The party left Montreal in June, 1727, and trusting to the 
pacification of the savages near the Green Bay port- g^een Bay 
age, passed that way. We can follow them in the P°''*^ee. 
priest's journal. They met friendly greetings among the Win- 
nebagoes on the pretty little lake where this people dwelt, and 
on August 15 they arrayed themselves in the village of the 
Foxes, " a nation," as Guignas describes them, " much dreaded," 
but without reason, as he thinks, since they are reduced to only 
about two hundred warriors. He became confused with the 
perplexing tortuousness of the river, and found the actual port- 
age little better than half a league of marsh mud. Once upon 
the Wisconsin, he counted thirty leagues to the Mississippi. 
Turning up this river, their course lay northerly for fifty-eight 
leagues, as he measured it, winding among islands, till they 
reached a widening of the stream, destitute of is- 
lands, which was known as Lake Pepin. Here, about 
the middle of September, the party staked out a stockade, a 
hundred feet square, with two bastions, and in four days com- 
pleted it, and called it Fort Beauharnois. It was the first set- 
tlement on the Mississippi north of the Illinois. They had 
trusted the Indians' advice in placing it, as they supposed, above 
the highest level of the water, but in the following April a 
freshet forced the reconstruction of it on higher ground. In 
due time nearly a hundred cabins of the Sioux sprang up about 
the fort. 

The Foxes had proved, however, far less tamable than the 
Sioux. Their treacherous maraudings still continued. 

. 1 /^ • 1 1 1 1 The Foxes. 

The two hundred warriors whom Guignas had thought 
so placable were still true to the same instincts which, a hun- 
dred years and more later, their descendants manifested under 
Blackhawk. De Siette was inclined to renew the war and ex- 
terminate them, if he could ; but when the king heard of it, 
he remembered the sad results of past attempts to annihilate 
the savages, and wrote to Beauharnois, April 29, 1727, to call 
a halt. The governor counted on help from Louisiana, which 



146 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

was much more exposed to ravages than Canada. He was only 
anxious to strike the blow before the savages could fly to the 
Iroquois or to the Sioux of the prairies. In the spring of 
1728, it seemed no longer possible to desist from a war, and De 
Lignery led a formidable force against them ; but the wily 
savages eluded their pursuers, and little was accomplished. 

Such were the impediments to western progress which were 
Charlevoix developed during the years following Charlevoix's study 
iuinois ^^ ^^ problem. We must now follow his observa- 
^^-^- tions on other points. From Mackinac, where Charle- 

voix pursued these inquiries as to a western way, he passed 
by the St. Joseph portage to the Kankakee, and so to the Missis- 
sippi, reaching Cahokia October 10, 1721. There had been a 
settlement here for a score of years or more. Charlevoix says 
that its inhabitants told him they had originally built their 
cabins on the bank of the river. In three years the current 
had moved so far to the west as to leave them half a league 
inland. He found the French at Kaskaskia living in ease and 
taking on the habits of settled life. Boisbriant was shortly 
afterwards (1722) to sign the earliest land warrant which is 
on record there, the product of the settlement was 
and the increasing, and before long supplies were to be regu- 
larly sent down to New* Orleans. The travelers heard 
stories of mines ; but though considerable bodies of San Do- 
mingo negroes had been brought to the region to work these 
deposits, the French never profited much from mineral wealth. 
Neither Canada nor Louisiana was quite content with the 
divided interests of this whole region. The Canadian bush- 
ranger took advantage of the uncertain control, and passed 
from one to the other jurisdiction to escape punishment for 
his mischief. It was from these roving miscreants that the 
Sioux and Foxes obtained their guns and ammunition. 

The fact was, that the northern limits of Louisiana were never 
Limits of definitely determined. The makers of maps drew the 
Louisiana. divisiou line according to caprice, shifting it up and 
down between the Natchez and the Ohio. Delisle was still 
applying the Spanish designation of Florida to the whole north- 
ern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, between the Appalachians 
and New Mexico. In 1722, he stretched the province up the 










[From Sayer and Jeflferys' reproduction of Danville's North America (London), showing the 
position of Lake Pepin and the upper Mississippi, as then understood.] 



148 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

Mississippi to the line of tlie Missouri, and in 1728 lie stopped 
it at a point below the Ohio. His " Pays des Ilinois " lies 
north of this, between the northern parts of New Mexico and 
the Iroquois country. He places the designation " Pays de Iro- 
quois " so indefinitely that it does not help to settle the vexed 
question whether the hunting-grounds of that confederacy 
stopped westwardly at the Scioto or the Miami, or extended 
even farther. 

The country of the Illinois had been added, as we have seen, 
Bounds of *o Louisiana in 1717, but it was uncertain whether 
the Illinois, ^j^-g carried the jurisdiction of its dependent governor 
beyond the Kickapoos and Mascoutins, or to the line of the 
Wisconsin. Homann, in his maps, ran the division line due 
west from the Chicago portage to the Mississippi. Moll, the 
Englishman, and Jaillot, the Frenchman, agreed in stretching 
it across the country below the Illinois River. 

Vaudreuil, representing the interests of Canada, claimed that 
the Louisiana of Crozat's charter had only been increased 
under the decree of 1717 by the addition of the Illinois country, 
whatever that may be. It was a dispute between him and Bois- 
briant, as local governor at Fort Chartres, whether the latter's 
jurisdiction extended to the sources of all the affluents of the 
Mississippi or not. Some European geographers, like Homann 
and Jaillot, even made the Illinois include the basin of Lake 
Winnipeg, on the theory of the continuous connection of it and 
tlie Mississippi in one system of water-ways. 

The territory in dispute between the French and English 
The Ohio traders was along the Wabash and up the Ohio and 
country. '^g lateral valleys. Charlevoix speaks of the region 
north of the Ohio as likely to become the granary of Louisiana. 
Senex, the English cartographer, made it appear that through 
this region "of one hundred and twenty leagues the Illinois 
hunt cows," and he magnified the reports of the trade in buffalo 
peltries. The waning power of the Iroquois and the coming 
of the Delawares and Shawnees into the Ohio valley had per- 
mitted the French to conduct more extensive explorations, and 
they had found themselves liable to confront aU along the vaUey 
the equally adventurous English. 

The Mississippi Company had urged (September 15, 1720) 



THE OHIO COUNTRY. 149 

the LuilJing of a fort on the Wabash as a safeguard against the 
English, and the need of it had attracted the atten- .^^^^ wabash 
tion of Charlevoix. Some such precaution, indeed, ^^""'^''y- 
was quite as necessary to overawe the savages, for now that the 
Maumee-Wabash portage was coming into favor, the Indians 
had lately been prowling about it and murdering the passers. 
La Harpe, in 1724, feared the danger of delay. In 1725, the 
necessity for some such protection alarmed Boisbriant early in 
the year. The Carolina traders had put up two booths on 
the Wabash, and rumors reached Kaskaskia of other stations 
which they had established farther up the Ohio valley. These 
last intruders wer$ probably Pennsylvanians, — at least, it is so 
assumed in the treaty made at Albany in 1754. The language 
of such treaties is rarely the best authority ; but it is certain 
that Vaudreuil, in Quebec, believed it at the time. He re- 
ported to his home government that the English were xhe English 
haunting the upper waters of the Wabash and trading °" "'^ ^^"°' 
among the Miamis. As a result, we find the Company of the 
Indies (December, 1725) instructing Boisbriant to beware of 
the English, and to let M. Vincennes, then among the Miamis, 
know that these rivals were moving in that direction. The next 
year the company informed Perier (September 30, 1726) of their 
determination to be prepared, and authorized him, in concert 
with Vincennes, to repel the English if they approached. Vin- 
cennes had already been reconnoitring up the Ohio valley, to 
see if any English were there. 

Here, on the Ohio, the claims of authority between the New 
Orleans and Quebec governments again clashed. The 

1 • 1 TT 1 •! • 1 1 1 Regions 

region which Vautlreuil wished to protect on the upper indispute 
Wabash was held by him to be within Canada. But Canada and 

1 • T • • f 1 Louisiana. 

there was a very uncertain line separating it from the 
lower regions on the same river which Vincennes was ursfinsf 
the government of Louisiana to strengthen. This 
lower post, later called Vincennes, after the name of 
that pioneer, did not take the shape of permanence till about 
1734, when some families began to gather about the spot ; but 
all the while its chief communications seem to have been with 
Canada by the Maumee portage beyond the post of Ouiatanon. 
The French always had a certain advantage over the English 
on the Ohio. Their approach to it from below was assured as 



150 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

long as they held the lower valley of the Mississippi. The 
Lake Erie portages offered ready communication with 
outhe Canada. Their possession of Niagara enabled them 

to watch the approaches from New York and Penn- 
sylvania. Along the Alleghany River Joncaire was most active 
in his intrigues with the Shawnees, now scattered upon these 
upper waters of the valley. He succeeded at times in bi'inging 
them into treaty relations with Montreal. To strengthen their 
obligations to the French, he took care that smiths were kept 
among them to repair their guns. 

Once more to return to Charlevoix. 

He passed Fort yChartres in company with a young officer, 
St. Ange by name, who was destined, forty years and 
chartres morc later, to haul down its flag, then the last banner 
Kaskaskia. of Fraucc floating east of the Mississippi. Charlevoix 
remarked how the increasing settlements between the 
fort and Kaskaskia were beginning to look like a continuous 
village. He spent about a month at Kaskaskia (October- 
November, 1721), noting much of what has already been re- 
counted as to the condition of the country and of the neigh- 
boring regions. From Kaskaskia he started, November 10, to 
descend the Mississippi. Passing the mouth of the Ohio, — he 
called it the Wabash, — he thought it the finest place in Louisi- 
ana for a settlement/ the country up the river consisting, as he 
says, of " vast meadows with many streams, and covered with 
herds of buffaloes, and affording the shortest route to Can- 
ada." He felt that an armed post at the mouth of the Ohio 
could best keep in awe the Cherokees, " the biggest tribe of the 
continent." 

Reaching the l)luffs at Natchez, he comments on what he calls 
Natchez. Ibcrville's fascination with the spot, and the laying out 
^^-^' of a settlement there, which had been called Rosalie, 

after Madame the Duchess of Pontchartrain. " But this pro- 
ject," says Charlevoix, " is not likely soon to be carried out, 
though our geogra})]iers choose still to set down such a town on 
their mai)s." He found a storehouse, but little trade. 

Farther down the river, the Jesuit stopped and inspected 
the concessions recently awarded in furtherance of the financial 
movements in France, and on January 5, 1722, he reached 



& ^ a ^ ^ 




DUMONT'S PLAN OF NEW ORLEANS, 1718-1720. 



152 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

New Orleans. Five days later he writes thus : " The eight huii- 
New Or- dred fine houses and five parishes which the newspapers 
leans. 1722. ^^^ years ago [in the time of Law's frenzy] said were 
here are reduced to a hundred cabins for tlie troops, irregularly 
placed, a storehouse of wood, two or three mean dwellings, and 
an unfinished warehouse. This wild and desert spot is still 
nearly all covered with reeds and trees." But, he adds pro- 
phetically, " the day cannot be distant when it may become a 
rich town, the capital of an opulent colony." At this time the 
province had a total population, white and black, of not far 
from five thousand five hundred, of which about six hundred 
were slaves. Charlevoix remained in New Orleans till July, 
and then went to Biloxi. 

Peace, which had been made with Spain, February 17, 1720, 
France on ^^'^^ "^^^ lastcd for two years, and France, with Spain's 
the Gulf. acquiescence, held the Gulf shore westward from the 
iieiffhborhood of Pensacola as far as she could venture to oc- 
cupy. In the previous August (1721) Bienville had instructed 
La Harpe to take possession of the coveted Bay of St. Bernard 
(Matagorda), but in October it had been abandoned. The sav- 
af^es who dwelt about it had not softened in their ferocity since 
the days of La Salle, and it was found impossible to appease 
them. 

To control this coast and to keep communications with the 
Illinois, neither Biloxi nor Mobile had proved well situated. 
Now that the peace had rendered them less important as bul- 
warks against the Spaniards at Pensacola, it was evident that 
many considerations prompted the removal of the seat of gov- 
ernment to some position on the Great River. Something 
within her own capability needed to be done if Louisiana was 
to flourish, for France had of late been very neglectful of colo- 
nial interests. Unless matters mended, something little better 
than an independent freebooting existence must be occasionally 
dreamed of. The colonists could at least in this way get some 
of the products of enterprise, now checked by monoi^olies and 
other exactions. Added to this vacillating and neglectful policy 



Note. Tlie opposite map is from Bowen and Gibson's North America, London, 1763, allowing; 
tlip basin of tlio Reil River and the Spanish frontiers; and, east of the Mississippi, the country ot 
the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Alibamons. 



154 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

of the home government, the unpopularity of Bienville and his 
quarrels with Hubert, the commissary, had not served to make 
prospects better. Charlevoix came at a time to see this, and 
exercised his powers as a peacemaker to some effect. 

For a year or two, the governor had been advocating the 
removal of the capital, and in 1720 he had sent Le 

New Or- 

leans laid Bloud de la Tour to choose a site on the Mississippi. 

out. 1720. . 11 

A town was staked out, as we have seen, and records 
of baptisms were begun there as early as September 10, 1720. 
These early days, as Charlevoix found, were dismal ones. Some 
Swiss who had come for garrison duty had been scattered 
among the neighboring tribes, the better to feed them. They 
brought disease with them and fomid more of it. Out of one 
lot of Germans who sailed from France, not a quarter survived 
the voyage. The negroes who were brought from Guinea fared 
better, but not much. Hurricanes swept along the coast in the 
autumn of 1721, and leveled the huts both at New Orleans and 
Biloxi. 

In the spring of 1722, while Charlevoix was looking on, com- 
jfg^Qr. missioners arrived with orders to transfer the gov- 
capitaL*^ ernment to New Orleans. In June the removal of 
^^""" stores began, and by August Bienville had taken up 

his residence in the new capital. A fort was soon built at the 
Balize, in a position which, as Charlevoix describes it, was on 
the edge of the Gulf, but which is to-day nine miles up the pass. 

Charlevoix was on the ground in time to understand the per- 
plexities which environed the poor governor on all sides. The 
news from the Red River was discouraging, and Bien- 
River coun- villc rcsolvcd to iucrcasc the fifty men who constituted 
^^' the garrison at Natchitoches Island. This was ren- 

dered necessary, for the S])aniards had made good their posi- 
tion among the Adayes. Here they had converted a mission 
into an armed post, bringing up their supplies from the Gulf, 
and Bienville looked upon it as a distinct threat to the French. 
He wrote (December 10, 1721) to protest against it, as an 
unfriendly interjection of alien power between two French 
posts. The Spaniards maintained at this new post, which was 

Note. The opposite section of Mitchell's great map of 1765 shows the country of the Cenis, 
and the positions of the Adayes. 



15G CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

but seven leagues from Fort St. Jean Baptiste at Natchitoelies, 
a hundred men and six cannon, with which they couhl tlireaten 
the communications of the French with their more distant 
post among the Nassonites at Cadadaquions. 

These movements of the French toward the Spaniards met 
with scant appreciation from Charlevoix. " The neighborhood 
of the Spanish," he says, "had at all times been a fatal allure- 
ment to the French, who leave the best of lands untilled to 
pursue a precarious trade with such neighbors. The neighbor- 
hood of the Spaniards may have some advantages, but it is 
better that they should approach us than we go to them. It is 
not their interest to drive us away. The}^ understand, or will 
find out, that we are the best barriei* they can desire against 
the English." 

At the very date when Bienville was writing his protest to 
the Spanish jrovernor, he cave instructions to La 

LaHarpe. ^ -, i- i • c • i • • 

Harpe, now returned from Ins fruitless mission to 
St. Bernard's Bay, to proceed up the Arkansas, and secure, if 
possible, some cattle from Mexico. He varied his mission by 
searching for emeralds, and returned in May, 1722, unsuccess- 
ful again. 

Charlevoix speaks of the ascent of the Arkansas being made 
TheArkan- witli difficulty bccausc of its rapids and shoals. It 
sas River. ^^^g ^^^^ ^|^g moutli of thc rivcr that he saw the 

" sorrowful ruins of Mr. Law's grant, w^here nine thousand 
Germans were to be sent. It is a great pity they never came," 
he adds, " for there is not, perhaps, in Louisiana, if we except 
the Illinois, a country more fit for tillage and cattle." 

It was just at this time that orders were received from France 
to build a fort at the mouth of the Arkansas to protect the 
line of communication between New Orleans and Kaskaskia. 
A crowd of palisaded cabins soon sprang up on the spot where 
Joutel, escaping from the assassins of La Salle, had come so 
happily upon some of Tonty's men in 1687. 

Convoys Avith provisions from the Illinois were constantly 
coming down the river, and it was necessary to guard against 
the famine which too successful raids of prowling savages upon 
the boats might easily occasion, for this country had hardly 
been brought, except at a few points, under the subjection of 
the priests' meliorating influences. 



MISSIONS. 157 

Cliai'levoix, in 1721, did not find a Christian brother to greet 
him anywhere on the lower Mississippi, except at 
Yazoo and New Orleans. " It is five years," he says, tiieMissis- 
" since a priest said mass at the Natchez," and he ^'''^'' 
mentions that he was called upon while there to give the sanc- 
tion of the church to sundry couples who had already joined 
themselves in marriage. 

The next year, by orders issued in France in May, 1722, 
more active missionary agencies were at work, and the river 
became the great highway of the church. The Jesuits had 
brought the tribes of the Illinois almost to a man over to the 
faith. '■' They are almost all Christians," says Charlevoix, 
" mild in temper and often loving towards the French." 

To the Jesuits the future ecclesiastical control of all the coun- 
try north of the Ohio was now assigned, and in the following 
year we find their recruits frequently passing up the river. The 
lower regions of the valley were divided between the Carmel- 
ites and the Capuchins, but before long all fell under the con- 
trol of the Capuchins, who were recognized from the Alabama to 
the Red Eiver, and up the Great Valley as far as the Natchez. 

It was upon the Natchez that all eyes were soon to turn. 
They were restless, and had never been quite recon- ^^g 
ciled to the presence of the French. In October, ^''^t'^hez- 
1723, Bienville led seven hundred men against them and 
devastated two of their villages. The time for a more fearful 
outbreak was only put ofp. 

Meanwhile, Bienville's enemies had brought about his recall 
to France, and Boisbriant came down from Fort Bienvniein 
Chartres to take temporary command. On reaching ^■"^"'^s- 
France, Bienville pressed his defense, and La Harpe, who sup- 
ports him, says that he had laid up no more than sixty thou- 
sand livres during his long control in Louisiana, and defies the 
traducers of the governor to point out a more honest record. 
Bienville, however, failed of reinstatement. There was some 
talk of making La Noiie his successor, but the choice p^Her. 
fell on Boucher de la Perriere (or Perier), who re- ^"^^' 
ceived the appointment August 9, 1726, and started to his 
province. Louisiana was now supposed to have a population of 
eight thousand, of whom three thousand were blacks. 



158 CHARLEVOIX AND HIS OBSERVATIONS. 

Before Perier started, the Company of the Indies (September 
English aud ^^' 1726) rovealed to him their anxiety about the 
Encroach- English encroachments on the Wabash, and the Re- 
ments. gent expressed a hope for peace, not disguising his fear 

that i^ might become impossible to maintain it. At the same 
time there were apprehensions on the part of the English. We 
have an apt expression of them in the Memoirs of John Ker 
of Kersland (London, 1726). The grounds of this fear were 
certainly exaggerated, when Ker declares that France had sent 
over ten thousand troops to Louisiana, but not perhaps so much 
so when he argued that France intended the conquest of the 
whole continent. If the Great Valley was what Ker represented 
it, " of vast extent, with such a temperate, wholesome climate 
and wonderful, fruitful soil to produce everything useful as 
good if not better than any other country," ^ngland might well 
The Jesuits %lit for her sea-to-sea charters. The Jesuits who 
as planters, ^q^q qow scttlcd on a grant at New Orleans were 
beginning to show the capabilities of the soil in their planta- 
tions of oranges, figs, and sugar cane. It is very likely that the 
country owed the indigo plant also to them. The influx of 
vagabonds, which the holders of concessions under the Law 
regime had been sending over, was almost stopped, and new 
social amenities were appearing. 

The miry ground, with its stray growths of palmetto, willow, 
New and brake, the slab sides, bark roofs, and clay chim- 

orieans. ^g^g q£ ^j-^g gabius, Scattered along streets which bore 
the high-sounding names of the French nobility, made up the 
new capital, now becoming a more salubrious town since Perier 
had completed his levee along the river. The chief evils in 
life within it came doubtless from the lack of personal loj^alty 
to the crown and country, which a commercial despotism had 
done so much to destroy. 

The salutary effects of domesticity were increasing. The 
The ursu- Company had agreed with some Ursuline nuns to un- 
imes. i7'27. dgrtake hospital service and maintain a school, and in 
July, 1727, they arrived, — a body destined to become one of 
the wealthiest of the religious corporations of the future com- 
monwealth. A few years later they built a new convent, which 
is still standing as the residence of the archbishop, and is 



I 



THE URSULINES. 159 

perhaps the oldest building in the valley. The king sent over 
a body o£ worthy, marriageable girls, fitting each out with a 
small chest of clothing. The Ursulines took the charge pjugg a la 
of them, saw that they were established in virtuous '=^''^'^"''- 
homes, and to these "filles a la cassette," it is said, some of the 
best Creole blood of to-day traces back its origin. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. 

1720-1727. 

The concessions of the Frencli nnder the treaty of Utrecht 

(1713), or what the English claimed to be their con- 
Treaty of ^ . „ , T r^ ^l• • 1 

Utrecht. cBSSions, otten came back to plao^ue those Grallic rivals. 

1713. 1 o 

The great gate of the Mississippi valley at the north- 
east was in the English opinion securely gained for them when 
they preempted the rights of the Iroquois. To offset the pre- 
tensions of the sea-to-sea charters of the English, the French 
simply made a sweeping pretension that the New World in this 

northern half of it belonged to France and Spain alone, 

English and ° , ^ 

French aiid that Enoland had no claim beyond what France 

claims 

had ceded by treaty. Consequently, in the extreme 
French view, their cession of Acadia gave the English their 
sole legal possession, while the protection granted to the Eng- 
lish at Utrecht over the Iroquois carried no territorial rights. 
When it came to a test, the English cared for little but the 
right of might, as the French found out and could have antici- 
pated. In the appendix of his Half Century of Conflict^ 
Parkman prints two documents which represent these Frencli 
BoWs views. One is a Memoire by that Father Bobe al- 

'"^"'*' ready mentioned as the prompter of Delisle (1720), 

and the other is an official representation (1723) of much tlie 
same purport. The priest contends that the English in the 
treaty of St. Germain (1632) restored their American con- 
quests to France. Even if the English did not intend it, this 
restoration, he argues, in consideration of the French claim 
arising from the voyage of Verrazano, covered all America 
not Spanish, and so included the entire range of English colo- 
nies along the Atlantic coast. It was a part of this restored 
territory called Acadia, from the Kennebec eastward, which 



THE ENGLISH BOUNDS. 161 

had been wrested by England from France under the treaty of 
1713, and that only constituted the proper and legal possessions 
of England. Bobe now makes a liberal proposition which was 
not new, — for Lahontan had expressed it in his map of 1709, 
— that by French sufferance merely the bounds of the English 
should run due west from the mouth of the Kennebec, thus 
throwing Lake Champlain into Canada. The line was then 
to turn south so as to follow the crest of the AUeghanies to 
Florida. This being accepted by England, France, says our 
complacent priest, being generous, will live in peace with her 
neighbor, provided as a recompense England restores what lies 
east of the Kennebec, being " Acadia with its ancient limits," 
to the French crown. If the English, not knowing their hon- 
orable duty, refuse this, then the terrible power of Law's Mis- 
sissippi Company is to be brought to bear upon them for their 
temerity ! It never occurred to the docile priest that England 
had an equally Jjowerful South Sea Company to offset the other, 
just now in as high a feather. Unfortunately for Bobe and the 
Enghsh, before a few months had passed both speculations were 
to be classed among the world's great failures. The English, 
however, were in no mood to abate any pretensions. They only 
accepted the bounds of the Appalachians as a tem- T,,g EngUsu 
porary necessity. Moll, in his maps, was expressing thtlr°^ 
the English assumptions for the time being. He ''°""'*®- 
stretched the western line of the colonies alonir the AUeghanies 
northward, but bearing enough to the west to strike the Great 
Lakes at the eastern end of Erie, and so to include the entire 
region of the Iroquois tribal occupation. Thus all rights were 
denied the French along the southern shore of Ontario and at 
Niagara. The Lords of Trade appreciated the situation and 
memorialized the throne to prevent the weak posts of the 
French beyond the mountains growing defiantly strong. 

Byrd of Westover in Virginia looked with wonder on the 
content of the colonies to be hemmed in by the mountains. 
" Our country," he says, "has now been inhabited more than 
a hundred and thirty years, and still we hardly know anything 
of the Appalachian Mountains, which are nowhere above two 
hundred and fifty miles from the sea." 

This English people, whom Colonel Byrd thought so negli- 
gent of their opportunities, now numbered, with their foreign 



162 ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. 

admixtures, half a million of souls. It was a population toler- 
The EugUsh ^b^y ^^^11 compacted in New England, where the cur- 
coiouies. xQnt increase was now become the least, and where the 
spirit which prefigured the coming independence was most ar- 
dent. The New England charters were already threatened by 
the king, but they found a strenuous defender in Jeremy Dum- 
mer, then the Massachusetts agent in London. He claimed 
that these charters were contracts which the throne was bound 
to respect. Thougli the monarch had formally granted the ter- 
ritory, it had really been won by the pioneers, who had defended 
it from the French. The bill before Parliament, to which these 
ai'guments were an answer, was one introduced by the Board 
of Trade for the express purpose of making the colonies better 
able to confront the French. The plan was to confederate 
them under a captain-general, and at one time there was a pur- 
pose to send over the Earl of Stair to fill that office. Various 
Proposals Other plaus of union were advanced now and later by 
for union. Coxc, Bladeu, and others, — all for the same end. 
The youthful Turgot in France comprehended the drift of sen- 
timent when he spoke of the " colonies like fruit clinging to the 
tree only till ripe." Dummer, too, forecast the future when he 
warned the government in London that to unite the colonies in 
a vice-royalty was the best way to fit them for future indepen- 
dence. The bill was withdrawn and the scheme slumbered ; 
and when, in 1723, Massachusetts sought to unite with the 
neighboring colonies in a struggle with the Indians, the Board 
of Trade thought the project mutinous ! 

But New England was on the outskirts of the great arena. 

Berkeley had written his verses on the westward 
and course of empire, and had come to Newport with the 

ultimate hope of founding a college for savages. 
Franklin was making an influence to surpass the pulpit by 
fashioning public opinion through the New England Coiirant. 
When Jacob Wendell placed the first settlement in the Berk- 
shire hills, in 1725, and Fort Dummer was built at the modern 
Brattleboro in Vermont (1721), New England had reached 
the western limits of her home-country, and must wait a half 
century and more for her later developments on the Ohio. Not 
since the days, forty years earlier, when La Salle took some 
vagrant Mohegans down the Mississippi, had the New England 
savages passed beyond Albany and the Mohawks. 



OSWEGO. 163 

Settlements which the Dutch had formed on the Hudson, and 
the intercourse which that people had wisely regulated with the 
neighboring Indians, had come by the transition of power into 
the hands of those who fully comprehended the nature of their 
inheritance. No one among the supplanting English knew it 
better than Cadwallader Golden. He spoke of New 
York as " the only pi*ovince that can rival and I the Indian 
believe outdo the French" in the Indian trade; and 
trade was on the whole the most important influence now at 
work in the struggle for a continent. In a pamphlet which 
Golden had published in 1724, on the encouragement of the 
Indian trade, he had urged the occupation of the country south 
of the Great Lakes. It was partly to aid such encouragement, 
and at the same time to make manifest how the Five Nations 
could be helpful in such schemes, that he set about preparing 
a history of those tribes. He hoped by this publication (New 
York, 1727) to instruct those English statesmen who had 
shown supreme ignorance of American geography, in contrast 
to the enlightened apprehensions of their French rivals. The 
difference between them was naturally much the same as that 
which Delisle with his care, and Senex and Moll with their wild 
coniectures, had made manifest in their respective 

rni 1 • • 1 • T • <• English lack 

maps. Ihere seemed sometunes m this application of of discern- 
intellectual discernment in American matters a pre- 
determined purpose on the part of the insular English to go 
wrong if possible. When they reprinted Golden's book, in 
London, in 1747 and in 1750, the text was so perverted as to 
convey on some points little conception of what the author had 
written. 

The influence of Joncaire among the Onondagas and Sene- 
cas has frequently been mentioned. It might have led to a 
revulsion among the confederated Iroquois, if they had not been 
brought to a treaty at Gonestoga in 1721. But far more im- 
portant for the English interest was the flocking of 
English traders to Oswego. That little post in the 
busy season was redolent with the smell of furs, and confused 
with a Babel of tongues. Nothing could disturb the merchants 
of Montreal more than this intercepting at Oswego of the 
annual flotillas from the distant waters. The next year (1722), 



164 ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. 

the southern governors, Spotswood of Virginia, and Keith of 
Pennsylvania, sought to settle with the Iroquois their more 
immediate grievances. The confederates agreed not to extend 
their southern raids beyond the Potomac, and even then to 
carry their warpaths on the western slope of the Alleghanies 

At this time the Palatines were pushing farther west and 
were settling at German Flats (1723), near the portage to 
Oswego. The air was no longer wild with the savage whoop 
along the western route, and, the Albany traders began to take 
The English couragc and to respond to the invitations of the In- 
westeni diaus ou the Wabash to bring their packs among 
tribes. them. The confidence was reciprocal, and presently 

a band of Mackinac Indians appeared at Albany. Along a 
route of twelve hundred miles they had resisted the efforts of 
the French to turn them back. , / 

A sharj) clash was near at hand. Vaudreuil and Burnet 
Vaudieuii wcrc exchanging diplomatic notes over Oswego. Words 
and Buruet. .^yg^.g gqual in the contest ; but behind argument there 
was great disparity. The Canadian governor had a popula- 
tion of less than thirty thousand at his back. The English 
governor stood for the rights of twelve or fifteen times as many, 
who were scattered along the Atlantic seaboard. It was this 
vast preponderance in the Britons' favor which made Pontchar- 
train think the time was not far distant — and it was not — 
when Canada could be pushed to the wall. 

The post which Joncaire had established at Niagara as a 
counterfoil to Oswego was become stronger and more 

0s'W6fi[0 tind 

New Eng- threatening to the English, and to draw tJie attention 
of the English from it, Vaudreuil kept up the bewil- 
dering attacks along the New England frontiers. These were 
the orders of the government in Paris, which thought it less a 
risk than a direct attempt to drive the English from Oswego, 
as the Canadian governor persistently urged. Vaudreuil was 
firm in the conviction that the onset upon Oswego should not 
be longer delayed. He was not suffered to attempt it. He 
Vaudreuil died, Octobcr 10, 1725, an octogenarian, with a head 
died. 1.25. ^^.^jj dg^r, and with the zeal of youth. He had been 
the front of the Quebec government for twenty-one years. He 
had seen the devastating raids of the Iroquois along the St. 



TREATY OF 1726. 165 

Lawrence. He had made such reprisals as his hopes to win 
over the confederates indicated, and the New Englanders won- 
dered why they and not the New Yorkers were the victims of 
his activity. It was he who proposed that Niagara should be 
strengthened with a stone fort, and this was hardly done when 
Beauharnois launched two vessels on Ontario. 

Meanwhile the English had brought the Senecas, Cayugas, 
and Onondagas to a new treaty at Albany, in Septem- r^^^^^y ^f 
ber, 1726. These tribes had endeavored to prevent the ^""''■ 
French strengthening Niagara, but failing in that they were the 
more ready to play into the hands of the English. By this 
pact they confirmed what was claimed to be an earlier cession 
of the land north of Lake Erie. They also granted a strip 
sixty miles wide along the southern bank of Ontario, including 
the post at Oswego, and extending to the modern Cleveland on 
Lake Erie. They acknowledged their lands to be "protected 
and defended for the use of us " by the English king. It may 
be a question if the Indian consciousness quite comf)re- 
hended the interpretation which the English intended strength-^ 
by those words. This done, Burnet strengthened the 
fort at Oswego, and sent eighty soldiers to defend the workmen, 
while two hundred armed traders assembled there. 

In August, 1727, Begon, the Canadian intendant, demanded 
its evacuation, on the ground that the treaty of Utrecht did not 
allow either party to encroach upon disputed territory until 
commissioners had established the bounds between them. The 
French, however, were not prepared to go farther than to protest ; 
nor did Burnet, in denying the rights of the French to Niagara, 
act more boldly. The English governor disavowed any other 
purpose than trade, and in defending his position at Oswego 
fell back on the provision of the treaty, which allowed each to 
trade with the Indians, and either to go to the native villages, 
or to have the savages come to established posts. 

To be prepared for the worst, it was not long before a large 
force was put into the Oswego fort. The advantage 
which Burnet, largely through the expenditure of Albany with 
his own fortune, had thus secured was soon in some 
degree neutralized by the intrigue of the Albany merchants, 
who obtained from the crown a reversal of the governor's 
order which had prohibited their trade with Montreal. This 



166 ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. 

change opened the way to further intrigues of the French with 
the Iroquois. 

The Scotch-Irish element had now begun to strengthen rap- 
The Scotch- i^^ly throughout the English colonies. Emigration 
Irish. from Ulster was become a habit, " spreading like 

a contagious distemper." It is said that, for several years 
after the second quarter of the century began, something like 
twelve thousand of this people were landed yearly at the Atlan- 
tic seaports. They all possessed a tendency to push inland after 
arriving. In Pennsylvania, they drifted towards those regions 
where the boundary controversies with Maryland and Virginia 
were still unsettled, and in these disputes they were to become 
important agents. In 1724-25, three thousand of them are 
said to have landed in Philadelphia. It was computed that in 
the single year 1729 five thousand of them entered Pennsyl- 
vania. This great influx put the Quaker element of the prov- 
ince in a decided minority, but it was many years later before 
the Society of Friends ceased to have a predominant power in 
the political machinery of the province. Already James Logan, 
representing the conservative Quakers, was looking to Parlia- 
ment for relief from what seemed an imijending inundation of 
this hardy stock. 

This stream of new-comers forced the settlements farther and 
The farther west ; and the pioneers were opening the way 

fiuf Conrad ^^ tlic mountain gaps and toward the valley of Vir- 
weiser. ginia. Earlier, in 1723, the Palatines, who had been 
settled on the Mohawk, were seeking freer ser^dce in Pennsyl- 
vania. One famous among the directors of the western progress 
in later years, Conrad Weiser, now a vigorous man of thirty- 
three, proficient in the Maqua tongue, and knowing the Indian 
character well, had cast in his lot among them in 1729. ISIixed 
in this human drift toward the upper Susquehanna, and making- 
head toward the mountain gaps, were a few New 

Settlers -i-i i t mi c a ^ c r^ 

from Englanders. Ihey were representatives oi Lonneeti- 

Comiecticut. ° piii'i- 

cut come to possess themselves oi lands claimed in 
opposition to the charter of Penn. These lands were held to 
be within the sea-to-sea rights as established by the Connecticut 
charter of 1662, and beyond the interjected claim of the Duke 
of York along the Hudson, granted by his royal brother in 



THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 167 

1664 and 1674. These interlopers, as Penn's people thought 
them, were a sturdy race, later to be heard from. 

The Delawares, once the savage denizens of this region, 
had already begun to follow the flying game over the 
mountains, and had found new huntinsr-grounds on Delaware 

1 .rxi . mi T» 1 • 1 . and the 

the Ohio. Ihe Pennsylvania packmen were not tar Pennsyiva- 
behind, and they soon encountered on the Alleghany 
the French traders. The two rivals were each anxious to dis- 
cover the other's routes and purposes, and the secretary of 
Pennsylvania, in his reports to the Lords of Trade, was com- 
plaining that the French were pressing even within the limits 
of the province's charter. 

As to the more remote regions beyond the forks of the Ohio, 
New York was already pressing her claims derived The Ohio 
from the Iroquois, in order to keep out the traders of ''^sion. 
the other colonies. She held that the parliamentary acts of 
1624, 1664, and 1681, which made this, region crown lands, 
were enough, even without her Iroquois claim, to bar them out. 
But the urgent question, after all, was whether the activity of 
the French was not of itself enough to keep the English out. 
Coxe was expressing the fear that the better knowledge which 
the French possessed of the mountain passes might, " in con- 
junction with the French of the Meschacebe," enable them to 
"insult and harass these colonies." There was one favorable 
condition, however, — favorable, as he thought, to the British, 
in that the Chicazas (Chickasaws) were " good friends of the 
English." Their country extended to the Mississippi, and 
took in the valley of the Tennessee, which, as we have seen, was 
often marked in contemporary maps as the traders' route. 

It was ten years since, from one of the passes of the Blue 
Ridge, Spotswood, with his Knights of the Golden first set- 
Horseshoe, had looked down into the valley of the Shenandoah. 
Shenandoah. If we may safely accept the story, the ^"''^' y' 
first settler on the river-bank of that leafy basin came in 1726, 
when a Welshman, Morgan by name, built a house beyond the 
Blue Ridge. It is possible that, about the same time, some 
Germans from Germanna, in the lower country of Virginia, 
where Spotswood had seated a colony of that peoj^le, had also 
made an entrance into the valley. Two adventurers, Mackey 



168 ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. 

and Sailing, are repoi'ted to have wandered before this through 
Maokey and ^^^^ valley. Sailing was captured by the Cherokees, 
Sailing. ^^(j .^yj^g j^gij Ijy them for some years as a prisoner. 
Experiencing a variety of vicissitudes, he was passed from them 
to Kaskaskia, thence to the Spaniards, and again to the French 
in Canada. After an absence of six years, he joined the Eng- 
lish once more in New York. 

The Cherokees, the cause of such trials, dominated all this 
jjjg western region south of the Iroquois and west of the 

and u!e^^^ mouutaius. They had, in 1721, ceded to the Carolini- 
traders. ^^^^ ^ tract lying cast of the Alleghanies and between 
the Edisto and Congaree rivers, — the earliest English acqui- 
sition from them, stretching up the Carolina streams. The paths 
of the traders who sought the Cherokee villages from Virginia 
and the Carolinas united in what is now the extreme northwest 
of South Carolina among the broken hills of the southern end 
of the Alleghanies. The Virginians already, in 1728, had a 
considerable pack-horse traffic with the Cherokees along this 
path, and there had been an intermittent trade with them car- 
ried on by the Carolinians for three quarters of a century. 
Coxe, in 1722, speaks of their centre of trade being only sixty 
miles distant from the Carolina outposts, and says that the 
English are " always very kindly entertained by them." But 
the French were not altogether deficient in influence among 
them, and both the Cherokees and Creeks were at times objects 
of solicitude in Carolina. 

The trail from Virginia was a circuitous one. William Byrd 
The Virginia ^f Wcstovcr spcaks of its fivc huudrcd miles as most 
Byr/of likely almost double the necessary distance if the As- 
westover. geuibly would but order surveys to see if it could be 
shortened. Byrd's History of the Dividing Line is one of the 
few readable accounts which have come down to us of the life 
and sights of this period. lie expresses the inquisitiveness of 
an active mind when he says, " It is strange that our woodsmen 
have not had curiosity enough to inform themselves more ex- 
actly of [this region] ; and it is stranger still that the govern- 
ment has never thought it worth while [to incur] the expense 
of making an accurate survey of the mountains, that we might 
be masters of that natural fortification before the French, who 
in some places have settlements not very distant from it." It 



CAROLINA. 



169 



was rather striking how, in all such statements, what was known 
to the traders entered so little into the sum of the common 
knowledge pertaining to the mountains and to what they shut 
off. 




[From Jefferys' American Atlas, showing the Indian trail from the Shenandoah 
country to the Cherokee country. Tooley's Creek is the head of the Holston 
River.] 

Joshua Gee, in his tract on the English trade, speaks of 
Carolina as " a noble colony, the most improvable of jog,,y q^^ 
any of our colonies; " but he regards it as "liable to "^ Carolina. 
be overrun by the French and Spaniards for want of a suf- 
ficient protection." Referring to the French encroachments 



170 ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. 

beyond tlie mountains, he adds : " If we have any sense of the 
value of that commodious tract of land, it ought to put us upon 
securing to ourselves such excellent colonies which may, if 
properly improved, bring this nation a very great treasure ; and 
at least build some forts on the Appalachian Mountains, to 
secure us the rights of the mines contained in them ; to protect 
the Indian and skin trade ; and to preserve the navigation to 
ourselves of those great rivers which have their fountains in 
the said hills, and empty themselves through Carolina, Virginia, 
Maryland, etc., into the Virginia Sea." 

In 1721, it was estimated that lying between Carolina and 

the French on the Alabama and Mississippi there were 

southern Something over nine thousand Indian warriors, of 

TV 

whom nearly thirty-five hundred formerly traded with 
the English, but were now drawn into the French interests. 
The French were likewise thought to be in a fair way to win 
over about two thousand who were now neutral. Against about 
fifty-four hundred who either were at present or were likely 
to become hostile, the English could count on the friendship 
of nearly four thousand Cherokees dwelling along the Appala- 
chians. 

The danger to Carolina lay in the opportunity which the 
Dangers of rivcrs cast of the mountains offered for hostile de- 
caroima. sccuts if thc Chcrokecs ceased to form a barrier. 
The gi-eater danger was by the Altamaha. This risk had been 
represented to the Board of Trade, and they had ui'ged the 
government to dispatch troops to Charleston and to build forts 
on the rivers. 

After Pensacola had been finally confirmed to Spain, in 
1721, it was held in Carolina that the French could find an 
easy route from Mobile north till they struck and then de- 
scended the Altamaha. If they should do this, " it would be 
the most fatal blow yet to his Majesty's interests." 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE RIVALRIES OF PRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 
1730-1740. 

In 1730, Montesquieu had predicted that England would be 
the earliest of the western nations to be abandoned by 
her colonies. He little anticipated that France would colonies in 
in reality be the first to be bereft of hers. Just at a 
time when France had determined to restrict the English to 
the seaward slope of the Appalachians, in the hope of sharing 
the greater spaces of the New World with Spain, his Catholic 
majesty and the English king were formulating policies which 
were to deprive those monarchs of their American de- j,^^ ^ 
pendencies. It was the production of sugar which ^^^^^- 
was to be used in these magisterial ways. Joshua Gee, a con- 
temporary English economist, was in 1731 urging upon his 
government to follow the French practice of sending vagrants 
to the colonies, since by the " incredible numbers " of them 
which France had sent to the Mississippi she had established 
a successf id rivalry in the exportation of sugar. " If once the 
French can bring their settlements," he adds, "to bear upon 
the back of ours, along that most fertile valley which is watered 
with the river Overbachee [Wabash] and the great river Ohio, 
we may expect they will gain a great part of the tobacco trade 
also." 

It was observed in London that the non-resident planters of 
the British Sugar Islands in the West Indies were accustomed 
to spend money lavishly. The inference was natural that to 
foster the production of that staple would bring more money 
still to the mother country. The result was the passage of par- 
liamentary measures which, in aiding the sugar planters, bore 
hard on the Atlantic colonies, since the West Indies trade of 
Boston and Philadelphia was thereby forced to make a circuit 



172 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

through the British islands for the benefit of the English mer- 
chants. The colonial merchants were too active and 

The English i » i • i 

Pariiment the Atlantic coast too long to insure an exact or even 
colonial general compliance with such restrictive measures, 

commerce. , • , , ■ ... rm 

but any coercive attempt was an irritation. Ihe 
Viscount Bury and other apologists have asserted that imperial 
orders, the subject of colonial jeers, and with difficulty en- 
forced, could not have been oppressive ; but they forget that 
vexatious and inoperative legislation is sometimes the most 
irritating. 

The liquor question in our recent sociological days is one 
The influ- uiaiuly of domcstic concern ; but in the eighteenth cen- 
ence of rum. ^^^j on this contiiieiit it affected the destiny of peo- 
ples. In the rival designs for the possession of the Great Valley, 
rum — and largely New England rum — played an important 
part. It was more than a calumet in the intercourse of white 
and savage. Western progress as tracked by successive pur- 
chases of lands was a chronicle of rum. " Plenty of wine and 
punch was given to the Indians," is the usual accompaniment of 
a deed. Not a victory but the pale-face and his red ally quaffed 
a glass. " You tell us you have beat the French," said a 
sachem. " If so you must have taken a great deal of rum from 
them, and can better spare us some of that hot liquor to make 
us rejoice with you in the victory." The record reads: "The 
governor and commissioners ordered a dram of rum to be given 
to each, in a small dram-glass, which the governor called a 
French glass." The record of a later day says that the In- 
dians found the French glasses " unfortunate," referring to 
their diminutive size. " We now desire you will give us some 
in English glasses," said the unsated savage. The governor 
turned it to good account : " We are glad to hear you have 
such a dislike for what is French. They cheat you in your 
glasses as well as in everything else." The entry closes with 
the statement that they all had some rum "in some middle- 
sized glasses." 

A French Jesuit complained that an Indian would be bap- 
tized ten times a day for a pint of brandy. " All the unhappi- 
ness that befalls you," said the governor of Pennsylvania at 
an Indian council, " is generally owing to the abuse of that 
destructive liquor, rum, of which you are so fond ; " but there 



THE TRADE IN RUM. 173 

was very little beyond futile injunctions to prevent the mischiev- 
ous trader carrying it to the Indian villages. Even in their 
councils, when the chiefs reprehended the traffic and its effect 
upon their wayward youngsters, and solemnly vowed to break 
every cask brought over the mountains, they were seldom averse 
to being refreshed at the trading-house. Indeed, there were 
laws of trade that no righteous indignation of white or savage 
could stay, for by such laws the Indian got more rum for his 
skins from the English than he coidd get of brandy from the 
French. Conrad Weiser at one time told the Indians on the 
Ohio, who were complaining that the English traders brought 
rum to their villages, that they themselves " sent down their 
skins by the traders to buy rum. You go yourselves down and 
bring back horse-loads of strong liquor. Beside this you never 
agree about it. One will have it ; the other won't have it, — 
though there are very few of these last ; and a third says. We 
will have it cheaper. This last we believe speaks out of his 
heart," and the recorder adds, " Here they laughed." Rum, in 
fact, was the main prop of the English trade, and the distiller- 
ies of New England got their full share of the profit. It mat- 
tered little whether the Yankee product jiassed up the Hudson 
to Albany, and so clandestinely reached the merchants of Mon- 
treal and competed with French brandy ; or by an alternative 
channel found its way to the 'Delaware and Chesapeake Bay, 
and the pack-horse of the trader bore it over the AUeghanies. 
There were passages farther south perhaps more effective. '' A 
great part of the molasses from the Dutch and French islands," 
says a contemporary tract, " imported into Rhode Island, Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, etc., is distilled into rum and afterwards shipped 
by them into Virginia, Carolina," etc. In this traffic the dis- 
tillers of New England were using yearly some twenty thousand 
hogslieads of molasses. To conform to the law passed in the 
interests of the Surar Islands, and ship it through English ports, 
with increased cost of duties and transportation, was a burden, 
when not shirked, well calculated to make the merchants of 
Boston and Newport uneasy. The fact was that besides being 
a primary cavise of western progress, rum was likely to prove a 
contingent influence for American independence. The more 
rum the more beaver, and when the British Parlia- ^he beaver 
ment listened to Old-Country felt-makers and made ^^^^- 



174 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

it punishable for the colonists to wear any covering but those 
furnished by the English furriers, we find hats and nun work- 
ino- out the great problem together. Parliament was making 
these two products lawful commodities only by their going 
through England. It would have been hard to patrol the AUe- 
ghanies with excisemen ; and skins and rum passed and repassed, 
and there was free trade across the mountain barrier, while it 
was embarrassed on the coast. 

Nothing at the north was shaping this traffic in the colonial 
interests more than the English post at Oswego, and 
Fort Fred- nothing angered the French more than the mainte- 
nance of that station. In order to checkmate the Eng- 
lish, and to place themselves in the line of communication 
between Albany and Montreal, the French now advanced along 
Lake Champlain. We have seen that under the French claims 
the southern bounds of Canada ran west from the mouth of the 
Kennebec, and this threw Champlain almost entirely within 
their limits. Crown Point, or, as the French termed it, Scalp 
Point, thus became for the first time a prize in the rival con- 
tentions of French and English, when the Canadians began 
here, in 1731, the erection of Fort Frederick. This post, accord- 
ingly, was a direct threat against the Iroquois, who laid claim to 
the region of the lake, and a daif^er to the English, who saw in 
it a possible movement which hazarded the connection of New 
England and New York. Late in the summer of 1731, two 
Dutchmen came to Albany from Canada, and reported the prog- 
ress of the fort. They added that in the spring the French 
intended to take possession of Irondequoit Bay, on the soutliern 
side of Ontario, and so flank Oswego on the west as Fort Fred- 
erick did on the east. 

Nothing had of late occurred to arouse the English more. 
French Logau scut from Pennsylvania his signal of alarm to 
Lake cTam- Parliament. Rip van Dam in New York ajipealed 
plain. £qj,. gyppoi-t on the one hand to Belcher of Massachu- 

setts, and on the other to Gordon of Pennsylvania. Protests 
were made in Paris by the British ambassador. Nevertheless, 
the work at Crown Point went on. There was planted at the 
same time through the adjacent country by manoi'ial grants a 
feudal spirit, contrary to English habit. The region was laid 



THE SHAWNEES. 175 

out in seigneuries, parceled out without recompense in a coun- 
try that the Iroquois called their own, while the English claimed 
it under the treaty of Utrecht, as being within their jurisdiction. 
These surveys laid the foundations of disputes of title which it 
fell to New York to settle in vindication of her own right after 
the treaty of Paris in 1763. 

The alarm at the English agitation threw Canada into solici- 
tude lest the occupation of Crown Point should incite new 
attacks upon the St. Lawrence. The English, however, had 
enough to do elsewhere, and the French were suffered to go on 
strengthening their post, and finally (1737) to put an armed 
sloop on the lake. It was nearly ten years from the date of 
the first occupation of Crown Point before Fort Frederick was 
pronounced complete. 

The disi3osition of the Shawnees had become a growing fac- 
tor in the problem of western progress for the Eng- ,J,^^^ 
lish. These Indians — or such of them as were not s^^wnees. 
nomadic — had lived for some time, while their villages were 
on the Susquehanna, in a sort of subjection to the Iroquois. 
During this period the confederates watched their wards from 
Shamokin, at the forks of that river, where they kept a repre- 
sentative chieftain to control them. The Shawnees later claimed 
that they were forced across the AUeghanies because they would 
not join the confederates in war against the English. They 
were certainly restless in being what was termed " petticoated " 
by the Iroquois, and so sought friendly relations with some 
Delawares whom they found living on the waters of the AUe- 
ghany. This took place in 1732, a period of peace flecked 
with a cloud of danger on Lake Champlain. 

The French, meanwhile, were assuring the Shawnees in their 
new Ohio home that the hatchet was buried. In May, 1732, 
Edmund Cartlidge wrote from the Alleghany valley to Gov- 
ernor Gordon of Pennsylvania : " The French seem very kind 
and courteous for the present ; but how long it may hold I 
know not. The French coming to settle here, there is more 
necessity for the better regulation of the Indian trade, for the 
French will take all advantages against us to insinuate with 
the Indians in order to lessen their esteem for us." When the 
Shawnees, in September, 1732, sent a deputation to Philadel- 



176 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

phla, and its members were asked why their tribe had crossed 
the mountains, and why their chief went so often to Montreal, 
they protested it was with no evil intent towards the English. 

That the Shawnees did go to the French, the Pennsylvania 
traders were sure. These mongrel packmen made the 
syivania uiost of the pcaceful timcs, and were now swarming 
over the barrier ridges to pursue a trade always more 
or less nefarious. It was their custom to give the savages large 
credit in the autumn. When they exacted payment in the 
spring, a winter of rum-drinking had brought the poor debtors 
nigh imto destitution. This "trusting" process was so common 
hereabouts that, according to a memorial of some traders 
who had suffered by French blandishments interfering with 
the spring payments, it was termed " Alleghany ing " the poor 
Indians. 

These traders were at this day reporting that the French 
were building a log fort near the Ohio, and a certain Canadian, 
Cavelier by name, was said to come year after year among the 
tribes on the Alleghany to entice them to trade with Montreal. 

The Iroquois, through that portion of them dwelling on the 
The Ohio, and known as Mingoes, were another source 

Mingoes. q£ ^roublc to the English, who trusted the Shawnees. 
The Mingoes had a full share of the Iroquois longing for room, 
and were determined to push the Shawnees south of the Ohio. 
The Shawnees had long been wanderers, and they were not 
much averse to getting beyond the scrutiny of their quondam 
masters. 

The French met the Mingoes, as they had met the Shawnees, 
with fair speeches ; but the Iroquois were little inclined to 
brook the presence of the French as far east as the Alleghany, 
and the French saw in this Mingo aversion the instigation of 
the English. The ultimate question for the rival whites, as 
well as for the intermediary natives, was : Who should supply 
the rum to the distant Ottawas and Miamis ? — and the better 
bargains at Oswego were sure to tell. 

It was not long after this that Hocquart, the intendant of 
Canada, in a memoir which he preiiared on the state 

The French n ■, i iiiii- 

and the 01 that couutry, acknowledged that this tradmg advan- 
tage of the English was beyond question. Oswego, 
he said, was getting the lion's share of the furs from Lake Su- 



THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 177 

perlor, Mackinac, and Green Bay. The Sioux country, which 
was now become the principal source of supply, was also a 
tributary of the English post. There was nothing for the 
French to do but to outwit their rivals, as they had often done 
in more artful dij)lomacy with the Indians. English folly could 
certainly be counted on in the match, when such iniquities as 
" The Walking Purchase " of the Pennsylvanians were gloried 
in. The French were already benefiting themselves by their 
diplomatic skill. Beauharnois had a conference in 1734 with 
the Onondagas from the heart of the Iroquois Confederacy. 
The Wabash Indians were welcoming the French among them. 
Vincennes was becoming a settled post, with Louis St. Ange in 
command of its garrison. This was something to compensate 
the decadence of the French allies farther west, for the Illinois, 
from a powerful tribe as the French first found them, had been 
reduced to scarce six hundred fighting men. 

Thomas Salmon, in his Observations^ accounted the French 
wise in the quiet which they kept " before their designs i,,Qjj^g ^^jj 
are ripe for execution." The French threat of flank- ^'^^■ 
ing Oswego at Irondequoit, though for a long time impending, 
had never been put in action, and by 1737, the English asked 
the Senecas, living adjacent thereto, for permission to possess 
and fortify the same bay. To this end the New York legisla- 
ture made an appropriation to buy the site of the fort, and 
later it was thus acquired. The Indians on the Alleghany, 
meanwhile, were as quiet as Salmon thought the French to be, 
and when some stragglers were reported among them, showing 
white scalps, they hastened to relieve themselves of the impu- 
tation of hostility by telling the governor of Pennsylvania 
that the mischief-makers were wicked vagrants from the far 
Mississippi. 

For fifteen or twenty years the valley of Virginia had been 
looker! into from the gaps of the Bine Ridge. Occa- 
sionally, hunter or trader had descended from the of Virginia. 
passes and found the fords of the Shenandoah. But 
no settlement up to 1730 had, beyond question, been made along 
its meadows, nor a single tract of its umbrageous paradise 
been cleared. This year. Governor Gooch issued a warrant for 
forty thousand acres in the lower parts of the valley to John 



178 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

and Isaac Vanmeter. The next year (1731), they sold tlieir 
rights to one Joist Hite of Pennsylvania, and in 1732 Hite set- 
tled near the site of the future Winchester (founded in 1752). 
If the claims of Morgan, already mentioned in the preceding 
chapter, be rejected, Hite is thought to have been the first white 
settler in the valley of the Shenandoah, and he was instrumen- 
tal in leading thither sixteen families from Pennsylvania. 

The early immigrants of the valley were a mixed concourse 

of hardy people. Among them was a part of that 

and Ger- Scotch-Irish iuflux which was auimatins: the colonial 



mans. 



*o 



blood in Jersey, and indeed all along the Atlantic 
coast it brought in the martial spirit of Bothwell Bridge. 
There were also many of those Rhinelanders and Palatines who 
had flocked into New York, Pennsylvania, and Carolina, fugi- 
tives from the horrors which the Thirty Years' War had visited 
upon the Germans. They had fled from sumptuary laws and 
official extortions, — symptoms of that same despotism which, 
nearly a half century later, sent regiments of Hessians and 
Brunswickers to these same American wilds, when finally those 
of them who abided here became the stanchest adherents of the 
Federal Constitution. These Germans were in their own way a 
merry, hearty people, calculated to make the life of a pioneer 
as buoyant as a certain sluggishness would permit. Some among 
them, particularly those lingering by the Potomac, were Catholic, 
tributary to the only organization in America before the Revo- 
lution which publicly celebrated mass, — the isolated Roman 
Church in Philadelphia, — and they were never quite free from 
the suspicion of their neighbors lest their religious sympathies 

might too easily affiliate them with the French. The 

Huguenots. ._,__ /"i t'ti 

i-i rench Huguenots, as a part oi the un-lLnglish popu- 
lation, had no such doubts cast upon their sincerity. They had 
long ago weakened France, and had been denied the chance of 
strengthening Canada. From Boston to Charleston they were 
giving a rich strain to the conglomerate races of the seaboard. 
Some of them were among the first settlers of what is now 
Augusta, and they did their full share in creating a race of 
valiant first-goers in the wilderness. 

The modern local antiquaries of this region are not in full 
accord as to dates and details of these first comers in the valley 
of Virginia ; but it seems certain that all or nearly all came up 



BEVERLY MANOR. 179 

the valley from Pennsylvania, after crossing the Potomac. It 
was later when others from the tidewaters of Virginia ^. 

First comers 

crossed the Blue Ridge. In the absence ot surveys, in the vaiiey 

.... *^ of Virginia. 

the lands were occupied in large part at a venture, — - 
a slight cabin, a few hills of corn, or trees blazed along a sup- 
posed boundary, constituting all the act of possession. The 
settlement at the modern Woodstock (1734) was in the same 
year in which all the country west of the Blue Ridge was set 
up as the county of Orange, extending west "to the utmost 
bounds of Virginia," according to her sea-to-sea charter. Dur- 
ing the next few years (1735-1740), the tide moved up the 
valley to where the sources of the Roanoke and James interlace 
with those of the Kanawha. It was a region where a single 
rain-cloud might in a few hours feed, on the one hand, the foun- 
tains of the Atlantic streams, and on the other those of the 
Great Valley. 

In 1735-36, Colonel James Patton, one of the North of Ireland 
stock, received a grant of 120,000 acres not far from Pattonand 
where Staunton now is. John Sailing, whom we have ^^^^'"s- 
already mentioned as a captive of the Cherokees, borne through 
the Cumberland Gap, after six years of wandering had returned 
to Virginia, and in 1736 he had settled at the forks of the 
James west of the Blue Ridge. In September of the same year, 
Governor Gooch, in pursuance of an Order in Council jj^nor of 
and in the royal name, created the manor of Beverly ^^^^''^y- 
,on the Sherando (Shenandoah). Its precise limits of 118,491 
acres signify a supposably careful acquaintance with the coun- 
try. Indeed, the local names of landmarks defining the bounds 
of this grant indicate that the region had become more or less 
familiar. There were, apparently, squatters here and there 
throughout its extent. The chief patentee was William Beverly, 
a son of that historian of the name who had been a sharer in 
the adventurous merriments of Spotswood a score of years be- 
fore. This manor lay in the upper valley, where Staunton now 
stands. Beverly soon bought out his copartners and began 
settling families. Gooch, in the same year (1736), made a 
grant of land higher up the valley to one Benjamin Borden. 

In 1736, Colonel William Mayo and a party of surveyors 
followed the Potomac up to one of its springs, and discovered 
other waters not far off flowing westward into the Mononga- 



180 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

hela. The search for river sources fell in with the habit of 
raakino^ orants between rivers, and these "rants were 

Colonel ,. . f * ,, . n , t . , . 

Mayo at the limited, up their valleys, by lines connecting their 
Potomac. springs. It was a custom that gave rise to many dis- 
putes in these early apportionments of land, arising 
from a difference of claim as to what constituted a source, par- 
ticularly in case of alternative forks. In this way the grant 
The Fairfax i^adc to Lord Fairfax of a territory between the Rap- 
grant, pahannock and the Potomac, with bounds at the west 
defined by the shortest distance between their respective foun- 
tains, helped materially the settlement of the Beverly manor. 
His lordship claimed that such a western line for his grant 
threw the lower parts of the Shenandoah valley within his 
domain ; but the running of that line depended on which was 
taken as the source of the Potomac, the fountain of the north or 
of the south of its upper branches. Fairfax and those who dis- 
puted his claim naturally stood respectively for that interpreta- 
tion which increased their lands. The dispute was a long one, 
and for fifty years served to render the titles in the lower parts 
of the valley uncertain, and this drove settlers farther south, 
where no such rival claimants contended. The decision was 
ultimately against the Fairfaxes (1786). In much the same 
way, north of the Potomac, the boundary disputes between 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, complicating the service 
of writs, had a tendency to prevent settlers lingering on their 
way to the valley of Virginia. 

The valley had been for years the stamping-ground of the 
Tiie yaiiey a Chcrokces and Catawbas going north, and of the Dela- 
warpath. "wares and Iroquois ranging south in counter raids, 
with a fearful energy that the English, who counted all as allies 
against the French, often endeavored to assuage. Washington 
speaks of encountering such war parties when he was surveying 
for Lord Fairfax in the valley. The Iroquois, in some of these 
incursions, thinking to secure immunity from English molesta- 
tion farther south, sometimes tried to get from the frontier 
officers of Virginia a certificate of the confederates' good inten- 
tions toward the whites. The practice did not serve to soften 
the southern Indians, and it became necessary to break up this 
hostile habit. To hold the valley free from such conflicts fell 
in large part to the Scotch-Irish, who had been for some years 



182 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

coming in from Pennsylvania, and proving themselves the 
virile race which later represented Virginia in the campaign 
of Braddock and at Point Pleasant. 

When Governor Gooeh, in 1738, assured to this people liberty 
of conscience, a new incentive was given to their iui- 

Western 

extent of migration, and the valley began to be dotted with ham- 
lets. This increase needed new legislation for local 
government, and all the territory of the Virginia charter west of 
the Blue Ridge was divided into the two counties of Augusta 
and Frederick, the latter covering the northerly extension to 
" the utmost limits of Virginia." This act, under the existing 
pretensions of Virginia, carried her jurisdiction at least to the 
Mississippi, while to the northwest it included the western parts 
of Pennsylvania, and gave cause for a long contention with that 
province. 

It is quite possible that previous to 1740 there had been an 
occasional straggler who had crossed the western range 

Early . . . 

English on of the Appalachians in some other pursuit than trade 

the Ohio. i i o • ,-, 

or the chase. Surveyors and men " prospecting may 
have gone this way in an adventurous sj)irit. Mitchell, the 
geographer of a somewhat later day, tells us that he had seen 
the journals of some Virginia surveyors who had crossed the 
gaps and followed down Wood River to the Ohio, and had then 
passed down to New Orleans. He professes to have made from 
these itineraries a draft of the country which these pioneers 
had traversed ; but the supporters of England's claim to prior- 
ity over the French in Mitchell's time are often open to the sus- 
j)icion of making a case against her rivals by all sorts of possi- 
bilities stated as facts. At all events, the knowledge which the 
English had at this time of the trans- Alleghany region must 
have been very defective. Thomas Salmon, who was now sup- 
plying (1736) the popular demand in England for geograph- 
ical knowledge, seemed to comprehend that the headwaters 
of the York, Potomac, James, and Rappahannock, as he ex- 
pressed it, " locked within each other, as are also the heads of 
several other rivers, that rise in the same mountains and run 
toward the west." But when he undertakes to describe this 
distant region of western-flowing rivers, he manifests a surjjris- 
ing ignorance of what the French geographers had published. 



THE CHEROKEES. 183 

" On the west side of the mountains," he says, " are a great 
many lakes of which the French are in possession, as 't is said, 
but these have not a communication with each other or with 
the river St. Lawrence, as is commonly reported." Even the 
great English map of Popple in 1732 displays little knowledge 
of any development beyond that represented by Delisle some 
fifteen years earlier. 

Farther south, the Cherokees were still the bulwark of Caro- 
lina. In 1729, word had reached England that the 
French had succeeded in detaching these Indians from kees and the 
the British interests, and that with the Creeks they 
were rendering trade beyond the mountains insecure. It needed 
a bold stroke to break this savage pact, and bring the Chero- 
kees back to the English allegiance. The man for it was 
found. A Scotch baronet. Sir Alexander Cuming, sirAiexan- 
now a man of about forty, who had been interested in *^^'" *^"™™s- 
Berkeley's scheme of an Indian college at Bermuda, was sent 
hither to prej)are the way for a revival of this over-hill trade. 
With a train which he gathered at Charleston he started on his 
perilous mission. The account of his journey which we have 
was brought to light by the late Samuel G. Drake in 1872, 
and presents a picture of the undaunted Scotchman moving 
through the hostile country like a potentate, overawing village 
after village by his daring, and forcing the recalcitrant sav- 
ages to bend the knee in acknowledgment of the sovereignty of 
the British king. This, day after day, is the story of his prog- 
ress between March 13, 1730, when he set out, and his return 
to Charleston, April 20, when he had accomplished a 

f n ^ IT •! TTi 1 Treaty with 

Circuitous tour oi nve hundred miles. He brousfht the chero- 

kees. 1730. 

back with him several headmen of the Cherokee vil- 
lages, and took them to England to verify by a treaty at White- 
hall, on September 7, 1730, an agreement which he had made 
with the tribe. 

" The chain of friendship," says this London document, " be- 
tween King George and the Cherokee Indians is like the sun, 
which shines both here and also upon the great moimtains where 
they live, and equally warms the hearts of the English and the 
Indians." This warmth induced them to grant to the whites 
the right to build habitations and forts among them. They 



184 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

promised also not to trade and not to have other intercourse 
with any but the English. 

Of the condition of the Cherokees at this time we have an 
extended statement by James Adair, a trader for many 
tion of the ycars amoug them. He is, however, an unsatisfactory 
guide for the sequence of events, as he gives few dates, 
and those confused. When he began to trade among the Cher- 
okees, about 1735, he reckoned that they had nearly six thou- 
sand warriors. His wanderings took him as well among the 
Creeks and Choctaws, and he saw everywhere the evidence of 
their descent from the lost tribes of Israel ! 

Two years after Cuming's expedition over the mountains, the 
^^ , ^ English government reenforced their sea-to-sea claims 

The charter "^ 5^ 

of Georgia, by the Georgia charter of June 9, 1732. This docu- 
ment was a distinct threat to the French, or at least 
they considered it such, since it was but the beginning of a 
push westward around the southernmost edge of the Allegha- 
nies. By this, it was seen, the English might hope to reach 
the Mississippi and sever Louisiana from Canada. It was quite 
as distinct a challenge to the Spaniards, when the trustees of 
the new province sought to push against the Floridian frontier 
fresh settlements of whatever persecuted people they could drag 
from the debtors' jails in England or gather in the mountains 
of the Tyrol. 

The bounds of Georgia were the Savannah River on the one 
hand and the Altamaha on the other, and from th^ir respective 
sources the lines were to run due west to the Pacific or " South 
Seas," cutting athwart the French on the Mississippi. It was 
api:>arent that, in parting with something of her territory to the 
new proprietors. South Carolina had secured a bulwark against 
the Spaniards, as well as against any hostile Indians coming 
round the southern verge of the Appalachians. Her dangers 
were now to be exjiected solely through the gaps toward the 
modern State of Tennessee from the Indians in the French alli- 
ance. It was the object of Oglethorpe, at the head of the 
Georgian settlements, to bring these tribes into friendly rela- 
tions with the new province. The next year (1733) we find 
him compacting ^vitll the Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws, and 
Choctaws, enlarging the English sovereignty and placating the 
savasre nature. 



THE CAROLINA BARRIER. 185 

This movement by Oglethorpe was easily an affront to the 
French, and for some years it was a varying struo^g^le 

' , T-i T 1 1 1 -1 1 -MI- • Oglethorpe 

between the iLno^lish and these rivals on the Missis- aud the 

1 T T 1 T • 1 French. 

sippi to secure the Indian sympathy, it was a trial 
of English pluck and French blandishments. Adair says 
that it was about this time (1736) that the French seriously 
began to think of walling the English in by the Appalachians. 
Along this southern stretch of those mountains, the help of the 
Cherokees was essential to that end. The English saw, as the 
French did, that this tribe held with the Catawbas cherokees, 
the key to the situation. To make them allies in ^^i^^T' 
fullest sympathy, it was necessary to force them into '^"°'*' 
harmony with their old foes, the Iroquois. In 1737, Conrad 
Weiser was bending his skillful energies to bring about the 
reconciliation of the northern confederates and the Catawbas. 

It is to be feared there was quite as much need of a similar 
spirit of concord among the whites of the Atlantic intercolonial 
colonies, for intercolonial forbearance had little stead- Je^i°"«'e^- 
iness. The Carolina traders complained that the Georgian 
authorities taxed them for a passage across the Savannah on 
their way to the Cherokees, and in other respects the people of 
one province or another found their neighbors a burden. 

We find the average English notion of these Carolina barrier 
hills in what Salmon was writing at this time in his Salmon's 
efforts to enhance their glories in the eyes of stay-at- ^'''^^' 
home Britons. He speaks of " glittering sands being frequently 
washed down," while acknowledging scant acquaintance with 
a region where there are no towns or settlements, and no in- 
habitants, as he says, but wild beasts. " Our people only pass 
over the mountains when they go to traffic with the Indians 
near the banks of the Mississippi." Counting little on the 
intervention of the French, he supposes that there may come 
a rupture with the Spaniards. If this should happen, he sees 
nothing " to prevent our passing the mountains and possessing 
ourselves of the mines of St. Barbe, if we make the Indians of 
those countries our friends, who are frequently at war with the 
Spaniards. ... If we suffer [he adds] the French to build forts 
and fix themselves on the Mississippi or in the neighborhood 
of the Appalachian Mountains, they will not only be in a con- 



186 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

dition to invade and liarass our jjlantations from north to south, 
but will possess themselves of the mines there, . . . which will 
render that nation more formidable even in Europe than it is 
at present. ... It is to be wished, therefore, that Spain and 
Enirland would in turn understand their mutual interest, and 
enter into a defensive alliance in America, at least since the 
French can only be defeated in their ambitious and covetous 
views by the united forces of Great Britain and Spain." This 
was a welcome complement to the pet scheme of France to 
unite with Spain and drive the English from the continent. 

Neither scheme looked promising. The English merchants 
England and fretted uudcr the vigilance of Spain in thwarting their 
Spain. smuggling trade with the Spanish islands. Spain 

saw the same contraband trade successful enough to lessen her 
commerce, and she was stirred to greater vigilance. This in- 
creased the British discontent, and Pope and Johnson made the 
most they could of it in indignant verse, aimed to overthrow an 
inert ministry. In January, 1739, Walpole made a convention 
with Spain, and commissioners were named to settle the boun- 
dary disputes of Georgia and Florida. All this simply delayed, 
but did not prevent war, and on June 15, 1739, Newcastle no- 
tified the colonial governors that hostilities with Spain were 
renewed, and authorized them to seize Spanish property and 
issue letters of marque. 

It was not till September that Oglethorpe heard of the 
actual declaration of war. He strove at once to make 

War of Eng- i/~(i ti« • i r^ ' ^ 

land and the Crccks Es good a barrier against the fej)aniards as 
the Cherokees were towards the French. He ag-reed 
with the Creeks for cessions of their lands on the Savannah 
as far' as the Ogeechee and along the coast to the St. John's 
River, and so inland as far as the tides went. The savages 
further agreed to bar out the Spanish. 

In June, 1740, the English had pushed well into Florida, and 
were before St. Augustine. Here Oglethorpe suffered from the 
defection of some of his followers, and was obliged to withdi'aw. 
The ^Moravians whom he had called from Germany, and who 
had begun to set up missions among the Creeks, revolted at the 
war, and rather than take part in it turned north to confront 
later conflicts in Pennsylvania. The campaign closed with the 
Spaniards likely to hold their own on their side of the Great 
Valley. 



THE NATCHEZ WAR. 187 

Of the tribes to the east o£ the lower Mississippi, the Chick- 
asaws were accounted — if Charlevoix reflects the gen- ,p^g 
eral view — the "bravest of the Louisiana Indians." cinckasaws. 
Allied with the English, they had provoked in many ways the 
enmity of the French ; but their allegiance was somewhat in- 
constant, and their attacks occasionally were directed- against the 
English. Whichever way their hostile frenzy turned them, 
those who felt the weight of their resentment, whether English 
or French, charged the mischief on the instigation of the 
other, and very likely with entire justice. 

Lying two hundred miles west of their main country were 
the Chickasaws' friends, the Natchez, bordering on ^he 
the Mississippi. This inter-tribal friendship had for Natchez. 
a long time rendered the situation of Fort Rosalie a source of 
anxiety to the French. It ought to have opened the eyes of its 
commandant to the precarious peace of the little colony clus- 
tered about the fort; but he was an imperious and heedless 
man, and his character hastened the crisis. 

The Choctaws, a treacherous people,^ ostensibly friendly to 
the French, had secretly agreed with the Natchez and ^1,^ 
Yazoos to rise upon the French and destroy them. It ^an ''^^ 
was the part assigned to the Choctaws to attack New ^'^'^^-I'^si. 
Orleans. The Natchez, being impatient, anticipated the ap- 
pointed day, and so the plot failed of its f idl effect. They fell, 
November 28, 1729, on the defenseless colonists in and near 
Fort Rosalie, and massacred nearly all. A single fugitive 
reached New Orleans, and his bewildered story created the 
utmost consternation. 

The Choctaws had recently made warm protestation of fidel- 
ity, and this had blinded the people in that town to the danger 
which their insecurity invited. The precipitancy of the attack 
at Fort Rosalie proved their protection, for by it they were 
forewarned and escaped like horrors. Excepting a small com- 
motion occasioned by the Yazoos on the Washita, beyond the 
Mississippi, the sudden outburst of the Natchez failed of sup- 
port elsewhere. 

The French showed their energy in moving toward the 
Natchez to avenge the massacre. The Choctaws, still professing 
friendship, were the first on the spot ; but were soon joined 
by a force from New Orleans. The Natchez yielded their 



188 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

ground, aiifl, leaving some white prisoners beliind, fled across 
the Mississippi. They were pursued, but only their women 
fell into the hands of the French. A kind of guerrilla war 
lasted for a year, and when Perier brought it to a close (Jan- 
uary 1, 1731) he found himself possessed of nearly five hun- 
dred captive Indians, who were sold as slaves in the San 
Domingo market. There is some question as to the place 
where the Natchez made their last stand, supposed to be about 
forty miles northwest of Fort Rosalie. Some contend that it 
was near the modern Lake Lovelace. 

The outbreak had shown the necessity of improving the 
New Orleans defenses of Ncw Orleans, and Perier began to dig a 
fortified. nioat arouud the town, and to plan forts at several 
points on the river. There was great need of it, for the rem- 
nant of the Natchez were active, now falling upon the friendly 
Tonicas, and now attacking French barges as they struggled up 
the river, carrying supplies to the upper settlements. A part 
of the tribe sought refuge among the Chickasaws, and there 
nurtured their revengeful spirit. 

This Natchez war was the first serious hostile encounter 
which the Louisianians had had. The depletion of 
inJ^in'New New Orlcaus, by sending its available adults to man 
r eans. ^^^^ ^^^ posts, cxposcd the town to the dangers of a 
servile insurrection. Nothing but good luck and prompt action, 
whereby a dozen of black ringleaders were hanged, prevented 
other scenes of horror in a colony where out of seven thousand 
souls nearly a third were black and in bondage. 

The cost of the war and the uncertainty attending it had 
discouraged the Company of the Indies. Other 
pa'ny of the schcmes for profit in Asia and Africa were by contrast 
up i'ts dlar- far morc promising for the company's capital. For 
this cause their interest slackened, and Louisiana got 
less and less of their attention. The discontent culminated, 
January 33, 1731, in a surrender of the company's charter to 
the king. Louisiana, thus freed from a depressing monopoly and 
become a royal province, could not be worse off than she had 
been, and might be better. So the colonists waited develop- 
ments. 

The king. May 7, 1732, organized a council of government, and 



190 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN. 

recalling Perier for promotion, sent back Bienville to Lis old 
Bienviue post. Unfortunately, little was done to improve the 
governor of character of the emig-ration which followed, and New 
1732. Orleans received a fresh accession of the lazy and 

vicious, — poor material with which to recuperate its energies. 

All this was not promising for the serious work which Bien- 
ville soon took in hand. This was to demand of the 
theChicka- Chickasaws the surrender of the Natchez fugitives. 
The governor by gifts sought to gain over the Choctaws 
for a united campaign against these harborers of the enemy. As 
the trading-path went, the Chickasaw country was a hundred 
and sixty miles to the north of the Choctaw villages, between 
the upper forks of the Mobile River. The march tliither was 
a more laborious one for the French than for their savage 
allies ; but there was the prospect of plundering the English 
traders domesticated among the Chickasaws, and this was lure 
enough for both. The Chickasaws were known to belong to 
the savage league which was imperiling the passage of the 
Mississippi, and Bienville saw no alternative but the trial 
of war. 

The Choctaws were not quick to respond to the French en- 
treaties, though they at last yielded. It took time to lay such 
plans of cooperation that a supporting army could be brought 
from the Illinois country for a simultaneous attack. Mean- 
while, it was determined that Bienville should advance from the 
south by way of the Mobile anji Tombigbee rivers. 

On April 1, 1736, Bienville's army left Mobile Fort in thirty 
piraguas and as many bateaux. In three weeks, they were 
at Tombigbee, where a fort had already been built, and where 
the Choctaws, coming across the country, joined them. In a 
month more, they had gone as far as their boats would carry 
them ; and at this point, seven leagues from the nearest Chicka- 
saw village, they built a palisade to protect their boats, and 
moved on by land. On reaching the Chickasaw village, they 
saw the English flag flying above the defenses, and recognized 
some Carolina traders on the ramparts. 

The attack which was made on May 26 was vigorously re- 
pelled by the Chickasaws. Firing from pits, they reserved 
their volleys till the French were close upon them. This 
method of defense may have given rise to stories, later common, 



THE CHICKASAW WAR. 191 

that the Chickasaws lived in holes like weasels, as we some- 
times find it stated on legends in contemporary majis. 

Fifty of the assailants are said to have fallen at the first dis- 
charge from the fort, and thirty at the second. The Choctaws 
who accompanied the French are variously stated to have been 
from six hundred to twice as many in number, and, like all sav- 
ages, they lost heart rapidly under the steady repulse. So the 
French, numbering perhaps five hundred, were soon left to 
themselves, in a condition not much more sanguine than the 
Choctaw fugitives. All the French plans, indeed, had miscar- 
ried. The attack had been set down for May 10, when it was 
supposed the forces from the Illinois would be in position to 
assault simultaneously on the north. Bienville had been de- 
layed by rain, and had been obliged to tarry at intervals to 
build ovens and bake bread. He was accordingly a fortnight 
and more behind time. He had heard rumors which led him 
to suspect that D'Artaguette, commanding this northern party, 
was in position ; but he does not seem to have had confirmation 
of the story before he himself was obliged to retreat. 

The fact was that D'Artaguette, leading some four hundred 
French and Indians, was not pleased with Bienville's 

D'Ai'ta- 

orders to make haste slowly, so as not to be ahead of guette'a 

attack. 

the attack on the south. When he came upon the 
northern villages of the Chickasaws, he unadvisedly rushed to an 
attack. The onset was a failure. The commander was cap- 
tured, and his Indians fled. The victor secured a supply of 
powder, and captured some of Bienville's orders, which the 
English traders deciphered. So the movements on the south 
were anticipated, and the governor more easily foiled in his 
attack. 

Bienville returned to New Orleans with his bedraggled and 
downcast followers as best he could. He was as de- Bienvuie 
termined, however, as before to punish the foe ; but for^^'new 
it took three years to complete his new preparations, campaign. 
Meanwhile, he kept parties of Choctaws and Illinois skirring 
along the trails of the English traders to intercept their sup- 
plies. Other parties were sent to explore different paths of 
approach to the Chickasaws, so as to find the best. It was 
finally determined to try that which followed the Mississippi 
and the Yazoo. Making a new treaty with the Choctaws, to 



192 RIVALRIES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND SPAIN 

get what help he could from their four thousand warriors, he 
established a base near the modern Memphis. He built here 
Fort Assumption, and waited the accumulation of supplies from 
the Illinois country, as well as the coming of troops from 
France. These, to the number of seven hundred, arrived in 

1739. Delays brought the usual embarrassments. Horses and 
cattle strayed off. Provisions were lavishly consumed. The 
Indians deserted. It took at last three months to open the 
roads necessary for the march back from the river. 

The Illinois colonists had responded generously, and Buisson- 
A peace foi- nierc and Longueil had come with a good following 
lows. 1740. fpQj^ p'ori; Chartres. So Bienville found he was ready 
to start, in March, 1740, with about twelve hundred whites 
and twice as many Indians. Celoron, come from Canada, was 
sent ahead with a force fitted to try the temjDer of the enemy. 
The Chickasaws took alarm, and were induced to send their 
chiefs to Fort Assmnption. A peace followed, and by April 1, 

1740, Bienville was able to boast of success, and returned to 
New Orleans. 

It seemed for a while as if France was assured of a future in 
the Great Valley, and England and Spain were to be 

The pros- J ^ ^ o i 

pectsof kept afar. St. Denis had already confronted and 

New Fr3>nc6< ---, 

warned the Spaniards on the Red River, and England 
had nowhere got a footing beyond the Alleghanies. Signs of 
material prosperity were soon apparent in the French capital 
on the Mississippi. The rice and tobacco of Louisiana began 
to find a market in Europe, and timber was sent to the West 
Indies. 

But provisions came mostly from the Illinois, and the peace 
with the Chickasaws was not so effective but that courage was 
requisite to defend the barges passing up and down with their 
burdens. It was not a satisfactory sign, for it meant that the 
English were still stirring the Chickasaws to break their peace 
with the French, and to offer a bar at every point to any inter- 
course by land as well as by water from the Gulf to the Ohio. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

1727-1753. 

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de Verendrye, was a 
man approachino- fifty years of age when he attracted 

. , verendrye. 

notice as a discoverer. He was the son of the gov- 
ernor of Three Rivers, and was born in that town. His career 
had been somewhat varied. He had done his part in ravag- 
ing- the New England frontiers, and he had campaigned as a 
soldier-of-fortune in Flanders, where once he had been left for 
dead on the battlefield. 

Verendrye had been placed in charge of a fort on Lake Nipi- 
gon, north of Lake Superior, in 1727, where he heard 
the Indians tell their stock stories of a westward-run- Nipigon. 

1727. 

ning river, with its ebb and flow, and a great salt lake at 
its mouth. These tales soon gave him an ambition to lay open 
the secrets of the continent which lay hidden toward the set- 
ting sun. He left his post to go east, in order to bring his plans 
before the government at Quebec. He sought to represent the 
danger of allowing the English — as old rivals of the French 
for the Indian trade — to take the lead in the possession of this 
remote region. 

It was in the spring of 1728, when going east, that he met 
Father Guignas at Mackinac, and found him fully believing in 
a discoverable way to the western ocean. He also fell in with 
Father Degonnor. This priest had been for a while at Lake 
Pepin, as the spiritual head of a post established by Beauhar- 
nois. It was a part of a project of that governor to capture 
the trade and sympathies of the Sioux, in the hope of securing 
their assistance in a westward movement from ^hat 
point. To this end a fort had been lately built on 
that lake. It was one of the most exposed positions on the 



194 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

frontiers, and ever since the Freneli had knowTi its neighbor- 
hood, they had had strange vicissitudes in all their efforts to 
make it a trading-post. Floods and attacks had incessantly 
followed its founding. For the next ten years, the post was to 
be the centre of intermittent activity against hostile Indians, who 
came in the main from the region of Green Bay. The dan- 
ger became eventually (1737) so great that Legardeur de St. 
Pierre, then in command, had found it prudent to fire the fort 
and escape. We shall see that at a later day it was to devolve 
upon St. Piei'i'e to be the successor of the discoverer whose 
career we have now entered upon. 

Verendrye's new acquaintance, the priest from Lake Pepin, 
was ambitious of further duty in even more exposed positions, 
and the two determined to ask the French government to 
found a post and maintain a mission among the Assiniboines. 
This northern tribe, denizens of what is now Manitoba, is sup- 
posed to have been an offshoot of the Dacotah stock. Their 
name as just given is in accordance with the designation be- 
stowed by the French rather than the English, and this diver- 
sity of ear has supplied a great variety of forms to their tribal 
appellation. 

It was Verendrye's belief, and Beauharnois shared it, that 
the chances of finding a good route towards the west were 
better here than from Lake Pepin. They counted, not very 
wisely, on finding these northern Indians more placable than 
the treacherous Sioux. 

The rovers of the remotest frontiers had never ceased to 
be animated by a hope of discovering the great western sea. 
While at Lake Nipigon, Verendrye had often questioned the 
Indians, and Pako, a chief, had told him of a great lake to- 
ward the declining day, which poured its waters in 
western thrcc different directions, — one outlet being to Ilud- 
'^'^^' son's Bay, another toward the Mississippi, and the 

last westward, with an ebb and flow of the stream in the 
direction of a great salt sea, where there were villages of a 
dwarfish race. In confirmation of all which Vdrendrye pro- 
duced a map of an Indian guide, Otehaga, which, in the inter- 
pretation of. Danville a few years later, was a premonition of 
the Lake of the Woods, with a western-flowing outlet. 

These stories of an ocean-side folk far to the west were of 



196 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

course nothing but i-ehabilitations of many old fables, such as 
Sagard, a hundred years before, had repeated. The English 
were being regaled with them at this same time on Hudson's 
Bay. La France, a half-breed Indian, told Arthm* Dobbs, now 
in that region, that in 1726 he had gone with a party to the 
western sea, where he had seen large black fish sporting in the 
waves. It was here that he and his companions had attacked a 
town, and none of the assailers but himself had escaped to tell 
the story. EUis, another frequenter of Hudson's Bay, a few 
years later, reports it a common belief among the tribes that 
there were rivers flowing west to a great ocean far away to the 
sunsetting, where ships sailed, and men wore beards. 

Such were among the stories that in the autumn of 1729 
A mid-conti- could be citcd iu proof of water-ways to this distant 
nentai sea. ^^^^ j^ 'g c^ji-Jqus to uote liow a belief in some cen- 
tral water basin, connecting with all the great oceans surround- 
ing North America, afforded a leading feature of the experi- 
mental geography of the continent. Two centuries before, such 
a faith had encouraged Cartier to leave the salt tide of the St. 
Lawrence in the hope of finding a central fresh-water sea. 
Modern geographers find that like physical conditions are im- 
possible in normal circumstances ; but in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, they were relied upon and exemplified by Bellin and the 
leading cartographers, to solve the riddle of a trans-continental 
watei'-way. 

It was Verendrye's belief that this lake of multiple outpours 
v^rendrye's could be reached in twenty days from Nipigon, and that 
views. ^jj expedition starting from Montreal in May might 

arrive there in September. Verendrye's representations at 
Quebec, and, through the governor, at Paris, were not received 
with confidence sufficient to induce the government to embark 
any capital in the scheme. The king, however, was quite will- 
ing to grant a monopoly of the fur trade in this wild region, if 
Verendrye could induce some merchants to aid him in an outfit. 
The result was the formation of a new company for trading 
with the Sioux and other Indians of this region. 

Note. The opposite map is from Bowen and Gibson's North America, published by Sayer and 
Bennett, London, 17G3. It shows the Sioux country and the upper waters of the Mississippi 
River, and the portage connecting Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods, which was later 
forgotten. The dotted line "settled by Commissaries" is that of the southern bounds of th« 
HuU.son Bay Company, " after the treaty of Utrecht." 



i 



198 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

On May 19, 1731, Vcrendrye signed an agreement with some 
Verendrye's Montreal tiadei's, under which they furnished his 
auddlT™-- equipment. His party comprised the leader's three 
ture. 1731. goj^g^ a Jcsuit missiouary, Father Messager, and some 
Canadian boatmen and hunters. On June 8, 1731, the canoes 
left Montreal on a long and perilous journey. Verendrye's pur- 
pose was to take possession of the new country for his royal 
master, to find a way to the Pacific if possible, and to support 
himself meanwhile by hunting and trading for furs, while he 
afforded a profit to his backers if he could. 

By midsummer, he was on Lake Superior. He avoided all 
On Lake Communication with the Sieur La Ronde, who was 
Superior. then at La Pointe, seeking for copper, and sailing a 
forty-ton bark, — the first on the lake. Late in August, Yeren- 
drye crossed the portage farther north, but his men were more 
or less mutinous, and hampered his movements. Having sent 
forward an exploring party, he wintered on Pigeon River, and 
built a stockade to guard his supplies and to afford a base 
for future advances. His first object was to discover if Lake 
Ouinipigon (Winnipeg), of which he had reports showing it 
to be an expansion of the great western water-way, offered 
a suitable field for settlements. In May, 1732, the exploring 
party came back from Rainy Lake, and early in June, Veren- 
drye started on, leaving some portion of his followers to hold 
his fort of St. Pierre. By July, he had passed beyond Rainy 
At the Lake L^ke, Rud had built Fort St. Charles on the west 
woodt ^'^^^ o^ ^^^® Lake of the Woods ; and here he wintered 

1732-33. (1732-33). From this point he dispatched some 
canoes back to Montreal, with peltries. He sent at the same 
time such reports as he could give of his progress, and in the 
autumn (September, 1733) some supplies reached him, for- 
warded by his Montreal supporters. 

Beauharnois continued to manifest interest in the expedition, 
as his correspondence with the home government shows. The 
letters from Verendrye which reached the governor from time 
to time, detailing the party's hardships and the death of Veren- 
drye's nephew, La Jemeraye, who had led the exploring party, 
gave him little encouragement to hope that his solicitations to 
the Paris government to come to Verendrye's assistance would 
be effective ; and they were not. 



VERENDRYE'S FORTS. 199 

In the spring of 1734, Verendrye sent one of his sons to 
bnild Fort Maurepas just where the river, flowing- LakeWinni- 
west from the Lake of the Woods, entered the larger p®^' 
Lake Winnipeg. It was another of the various stockades 
which Verendrye within a few years scattered about the coun- 
try to secure better possession and to increase the trade. 

In August, 1734, Verendrye and one of his sons returned to 
Montreal, to give his personal influence to the business side of 
his undertaking. His stay was not long, and in June, 1735, 
we find him again turning to the west, and by September he 
had reached Fort St. Charles (Lake of the Woods), to At the Lake 
find its garrison almost prostrate from famine. The food's. 
perils of the undertaking were increasing, and for ^"^^• 
many months it is a story of disheartenment and misery, in- 
cluding the loss of a son in an attack by the Sioux upon one of 
his roving parties. The disasters of 1737, both in the Disasters, 
loss of men and stores, so discouraged the adventurer ^^^^' 
that we find him in October advising the minister that he must 
abandon his whole project. 

The next year (1738), his spirits recovered, and he was 
eagerly questioning the Assiniboines and Cristineaux, stories. 
another tribe of the neighborhood, as to more distant ^"^^" 
parts. He heard stories of walled towns farther down this 
supposable westward flowing river, with white inhabitants ; 
but they were without firearms. These peoples were said to 
work in iron, however, and an Indian said he had killed one 
of them, who was cased in iron. 

These savage informants all told of a people upon the Mis- 
souri, known as the Mandaus, who lived on the path to the dis- 
tant sea, and who could probably show the way thither. The 
Mandans, then, must be found. 

In the summer of 1738, Verendrye left Fort Maurepas, and 
passing up the Red River at the southern end of Lake Winni- 
peg, turned into the Assiniboine. Here he built a new stock- 
ade, calling it Fort De La Reine (October, 1738), at portDeLa 
a point where a portage led to Lake Manitoba. Some ^®™®" ^^^^' 
days later (October 18), with a party of twenty hired men and 
thirty others, including some Indians, he began his march to- 
ward the valley of the Missouri, reaching, after a journey of 
about twenty-six leagues, his first obstacle in what was proba- 



200 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

bly Turtle Mountain. From the time when Joliet and Mar- 
quette, nearly seventy years before, remarked upon the great 
volume of water which fed the Mississippi from this turbid 
The northwestern affluent, the hope had not been aban- 

Missoun. cloned that the Missouri might j^rove the chief chan- 
nel to the western sea. It came to be believed that it could 
be followed toward the west a distance corresponding to the 
practicable ascent of the Ohio toward the east. Mitchell, on 
his map, records this as a current opinion. The French had 
from time to time explored it, led by reports of silver mines, 
and by stories of the access thereto which the Spaniards got by 
some of its southern branches. AYhile Verendrye was travers- 
ing its upper reaches, other French were now exploring from its 
main stream toward New Mexico. Two Frenchmen, 

Frcucli GX- 

pioration Mallct by uamc, and one, at least, a priest, in 1739 fol- 
Spaniards. lowcd up the Plattc, and by its southern fork reached 

1739. 

the plains of Colorado. Passing the upper Arkansas, 
they were at Santa Fe in July, and tarried through the winter. 
In the spring (May, 1740), their party divided, and while some 
went across the plains to the Panis (Pawnees), others coursed 
down the Arkansas to the Mississippi. Their reports induced 
Bienville to suspect that the regions they had traversed were 
parts of China, — a curious survival of the old Asiatic theory of 
the continent, — and accordingly he sent an exploring party up 
the Canadian fork of the Arkansas. It accomplished nothing. 

Meanwhile, Verendrye was having startling experiences among 
The.Man- ^ pcoplc wliosc unwontcd customs observed by later 
dans. 1738. gxplorers gavc rise to a theory, welcomed by the 
Welsh, that in the Mandans were to be found some of the de- 
scendants of the hapless companions of Prince ISIadoc. Veren- 
drye first encountered this people on November 28, 1738, and 
on December 3 he entered their village. His narrative shows 
that he was struck among his hosts with a physiognomy which 
was not Indian, and with a mixture of light and dark in their 
complexions, the women pai'ticularly having in many cases 
almost flaxen hair. He observed, too, that their method of 
fortifying their village was not one which he had seen among 
other tribes. 

These Mandans told the new-comers that a day's journey off 
there were white men who were habitual horsemen, and who 



THE HAND AN VILLAGE. 201 

were incased in metal wlien they fought, — and he naturally 
thought of Spaniards from New Mexico. 

Verendrye's sojourn among this interesting people was but 
short, but he lost no time in taking formal possession of their 
country in the king's name. He left two men among them to 
learn their language, and to discover, if possible, who these work- 
ers in metal were. After having suffered, as he says, more 
fatigue and wretchedness throughout his journey than he .had 
ever before experienced, he reached La Reine on his return in 
February, 1739. The men whom he had left behind joined 
him at La Reine in September, and had a new story to tell him. 
While they were in the Mandan village, some of a tribe fartjbier 
west had come to trade there. These strangers reported that 
white and bearded men lived near their home. They called 
them pale faces, and said that the}^ built forts of brick and 
stone and mounted cannon on them. They prayed with books, 
worshiped the cross, cultivated gardens, and garnered grain, 
used oxen and horses, wore clothes of cotton, and strapped soles 
to their feet. Their habitations stood by a large sea, which 
rose and fell, and whose waters could not be drunk. It was 
wondered if they were Spaniards upon the Gulf of California. 

The documents printed by Margry give but scant knowledge 
of the experiences of these two years ; but Biymner has well 
supplied the want in the journal, kept by Verendrye, which is 
printed in the Report of the Dominio7i Archives for 1889. 
The fatigues of the expedition had told upon the leader, and he 
spent a part of the winter and spring of 1739 at La Reine, 
exhausted in body and troubled in mind. In April, LakeMani- 
he sent his son to explore the portage toward Lake laskatche-^^ 
Manitoba, and upon that water the yomiger Veren- '"''"'• ^^^^• 
drye constructed Fort Dauphin, and then pushed on to explore 
the Saskatchewan region. 

This period of activity was followed by one of doubt and ex- 
haustion. In October, 1739, some supplies reached La Reine, 
but Verendrye found it necessary to go back to Montreal to 
secure what merchandise was needed for traffic. Reaching 
the settlements, he found his affairs in a rueful condition : he 
was 40,000 livres in debt, and a defendant in the courts. His 
commercial backers were exacting, and his business rivals in 
the peltry trade harassed him. Beauharnois was almost alone 
active in his behalf. 



202 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

Afterwards, in 1741, Verendrye joined his companions at the 
v^rendrye's wcst. In the Spring of 1742, he sent his two surviving 
weltlard ^^^^ ^^ rcnew the western search. They left La Reine 
^"^-- on April 20, and proceeding up the Assiniboine and 

Souris rivers, passed on (July 23) in a west-southwest course 
over a rolling prairie to the Mandan towns, seeing no one for 
twenty days. On August 11, they reached some hills. It is now 
supposed that these elevations were the Powder River range sep- 
arati'no- the forks of the Little Missouri, a southern affluent of 
the greater river. To inquiries after the sea, the wanderers got 
the same answer, which led them on from one tribe to another, 
each referring them to the one beyond. None had seen this 
great water ; but later they found a tribe who had captured 
some Snake Indians, and these prisoners reported it lying still 
farther west. A war party, prejiariug for an attack on these 
same Snakes, opened the way for a further advance, and the 
brothers went on. 

It was the 1st of January, 1743, when these two sons of 
They see Verendrye saw what was perhaps the Big Horn Range, 
^nuaryT" ^^ outlyiug buttrcss of tlic Rocky Mountains, run- 
1743. ning athwart the sources of the Yellowstone, and lying 

a hundred miles or more east of the Yellowstone Park. Their 
narrative does not indicate that the sight was in any way a 
striking one, and there has been doubt expressed as to the iden- 
tification of the actual summits which were seen. One of the 
brothers went with the advancing war party to the foot of these 
mountains, which were " well wooded and very high," as he 
describes them (January 8). He little dreamed that beyond 
them, and beyond the Snakes, lay eight hundred miles or more 
of mountain and declivity, stretching to the coveted sea. 

The conclusion reached by Professor Whitney in his study of 
the problem is that the explorers " may have been withiii one or 
two hundred miles of Snake River. Here they heard accounts 
of the missions of the Spaniard in California, which contained 
enough of truthful items to prove beyond doubt that there had 
been communication across the country between the Pacific 
coast and the upper Missouri region." Parlonan's study of 
their route gives much the same conclusions as reached by the 
present writer, but he thinks it not unlikely that the explorers 
may also have pushed somewhat beyond this mountain barrier 



VERENDRYE'S LAST YEARS. 203 

of the Big Horn. Their narrative tells us that they reached, at 
all events, the Snake village which they searched for, but found 
it abandoned. Thus balked in their purpose, the party, with 
their white companions, turned back, and left the great barrier 
of the Rockies unsealed. 

/ 
In the spring of 1743, the young Verendryes were back on the 

banks of the Missouri, and here, amid a tribe — very gpring. 

likely one of the bands of the Sioux — they buried a ^^''^" 

leaden plate, engraved with the royal arms. Turning up the 

Missouri, by the middle of May they were again among the 

Mandans. Here they found a party of Assiniboines traveling 

east, and falling in with their train on July 2, 1743, they later 

reached La Reine, having been absent about fifteen months. 

This period of venturesome exploration stands out amid the 

dreary monotony of Verendrye's misfortunes. Five 

, , , . Vtivenclrye's 

or six years of life remained to him, but they were bar- later years. 

1743-1749. 

ren in i^esults and harassing in incidents. He tried to 
get the minister to listen to tales of what he had done. He 
recounted to him the story of the posts he had established, and 
outlined the promise of further discoveries, but it was the ap- 
peal of a wearied and poverty-stricken adventurer, and made 
little impression. At one time he was relieved of command, 
and then later sent back to try once more ; but nothing came 
of it. His sons went to Quebec, seeking to gain the attention 
of the government, or to incite the cupidity of the merchants, 
but in vain. 

Kalm, the Swedish traveler, met Verendrye in his last year, 
and records something of what he learned from him. The re- 
tired leader told him that he had in some places observed fur- 
rows in the soil which indicated that a people advanced enough 
to use ploughs had once been in occupation. He had found, he 
said, monumental stones, generally without inscriptions, but in 
one case there were "Tartar characters," but no one could tell 
their origin. Kalm makes no mention of any mountains, as 
figuring in Verendrye's story. This is the more singular, be- 
cause Verendrye knew the Indian map by Otchago, which often 
figures in contemporary accounts, and which designates what 
we now know as the Rocky Mountains, as the " Mountains of 
Bi-io'ht Stones." 



204 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

The elder Verendrye died at Three Rivers on December 6, 

1749, and on February 27 following, La Jonquiere, 

dies*" s^c- who was now governor of Canada, wrote to the minis- 

Legardeur ter at Paris that Legardeur de St. Pierre had been 

' '*" selected to follow up the discoveries of the dead hero. 

It was evident that La Jonquiere was determined to institute 
La Jon- ^ ^^®^ control of tliis western search, for the younger 
«i"e western Vercudrye had in vain sought to be appointed to 
search. carry on the work which his father had enjoined upon 

him. By the influence of Galissonniere, the cross of St. Louis 
had been indeed bestowed on the elder discoverer, but this 
availed little. The new governor had his own plans, and it has 
been suspected that they involved commercial interests to be 
shared in common with Bigot, the new intendant, and St. Pierre 
himself. The governor was by no means sure that Verendrye's 
search had been in the best direction. He accordingly instructed 
the Sieur Marin, commanding at Green Bay, to go to the source 
of the Mississippi, and discover if there was not over the divide 
" rivers flowing into the western sea." La Jonquiere reported 
these orders to the minister in October, 1750. 

The region of many lakes, margined by the birch, maple, and 
pine, with wild rice plentiful in the glades, which is 

The source , , , i • t i i 

of the Ms- now known to gather the multiplied waters that unite 
to form the Great River, had once been the home of 
the Dacotahs, but now for twenty years these savages had been 
scattered before the Chippeways. It was many years yet before 
the hydrographical relations of the region were to be all under- 
various stood. Vaugondy was at this very time (1750) mak- 
coujectures. -j-^^ tlicsc fouutaius of the Mississippi the same with 
those that sujiplied the smaller affluent of Lake Winnipeg. 
Bellin, another leading French cartographer, from the period he 
made the maps for Charlevoix's journal, had advocated various 
notions, wild to us, of the hydrography of this interior region. 
He had contended that the " Mer de FOuest " lay not more than 
three hundred leagues west of Lake Superior, and thought it 
highly probable that there were connecting waters, rendering 
easy a passage from one to the other. With this propensity to 
find interlinking natural canals, Bellin now curiously compli- 
cates the question of the source of the Mississippi. In his 
map of 1755, he connects Lake Winnipeg by a continuous 



LAKE WINNIPEG. 



205 



channel with the Mississippi, through an intervening link which 
he calls the " Riviere Rouge," saying that " the course of it is 
little known." He places the springs of the Mississippi not in 
Winnipeg or beyond, but on a lateral affluent of this same 
mysterious river. This " Riviere Rouge " is made one with the 
"Assiniboils " just before it reaches " Lac Ouinipigon," and the 




[From Vaugondy's Amerique Septentrionale, 1750, showing the Mississippi rising in the "L. 
Assinipoils."] 

" Riviere des Assiniboils " is supposed to be the stream " by 
which one is believed to go to the sea of the west." Any one, 
therefore, could at that day appeal to Le Nejitune Francois., 
in which Bellin's map appeared, as authority for a supposed 
passage from the Gulf of Mexico, through the Mississippi and 
connecting streams, to Lake Winnipeg, from which there were 



206 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

water-ways to the Pacific and to Hudson's Bay, — a fair ex- 
position of the geographical delusion clinging about an imag- 
ined interior basin, with its multiplied outlets. 

Mitchell, the leading British geographer of the day, is less 
imaginative in saying that the Mississippi had been ascended to 
about 45° north latitude, and that its source was supposed to 
be in 50° of latitude, while in its longitude it lay about mid- 
way across the continent. Jefferys, the rival of Mitchell, places 
the source more nearly in 45°, while Danville, in France, puts 
it at 46°. 

There is no record of what Marin discovered, but it was 
given out that his purpose was ultimately to unite with St. 
Pierre at some point on the Pacific. 

The movement under St. Pierre began in June, 1750. We 
St. Pierre. ^^® enabled to follow him by a journal which he drew 
1750. ^^p^ g^j-^^i ^vhich is printed both by Margry and Brym- 

uer. The expedition was absent three years, but accomplished 
little, though its leader had had many years' experience in wood- 
ranging, and came of a forest-loving race, for he was a great- 
grandson of that Jean Nicollet who had got the first intimations 
of the Mississij)pi. St. Pierre lost time at the start by trying 
without avail to compose a peace between the Rainy Lake In- 
dians and the Sioux. He was later impeded by the hardships 
of his travel and by the treachery of the Assiniboines. He pro- 
ceeded himself no farther than Fort La Reine on the Assiniboine. 
He had determined, on any northern march, to avoid Hudson's 
Bay by turning to the west, and thereby to find, as he thought, 
the sources of the Missouri, so that its current might be made 
use of in transporting his supplies. It was Verendrye's mistake, 
he contended, in not clinging to that river* "by which some 
settled peoples could be reached, and no other than the Span- 
iards." 

It was in this direction that St. Pierre did all that was re- 
TheSas- markablc in his three years' absence. He sent his 
expiore'd*" licuteuant, the Chevalier de Niverville, to command a 
^^^^- party starting (May 29, 1751) for the Saskatchewan. 

Some portion of it ascended that river — called by them Pas- 
koya — " aux montagnes des Roches, — the earliest use, in 
Kingsford's opinion, of the appellation Rocky to any part of 
the great range. They built Fort La Jonquiere, three hundred 



ST. PIERRE AT LA REINE. 



207 



miles above the river's month, but only to abandon it and fall 
back to La Reine. St. Pierre, finding further progress in this 
direction deranged by continued inter-tribal hostilities among 



Z,a qramire- efe.; t'Or^tnal. n-'ort 
— ^uc- d'tui iirmplc- (rait, e.t la^Jtlir 
est LcveC' e/v anUeur d'eatc. 



EssAl d/ime' Carte aue^ hY Gintlanme JDelisle Pf^ Ge^arraphe' a 
et de/ UAcade^nue/ deiT Sciences avoitjainb a/<s'an/ Jileniatre/ jrreAsenk a la Ccl 

.Mer. DE llOimST. 




jjhxanoiia 

Can A 

Sioax 




[Taken from the Memoire presented to the Academy of Sciences at Paris by Buache, August 
9, 1752.] 

the savages, — the most perfidious, as he claimed, which he had 
ever encountered, — lingered on at La Reine, seeking in oneway 
and another to prevent his expedition being an absolute failure. 
In his talks with the Indians, one old man told him of people, 
" not quite so white as the French," living in the west, " where 



208 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

the sun sets in the month of June," which he considered to be 
in a west-northwest direction. "It is certain," he says, "that 
there are civilized people, not unknown to the English, in this 
distant region, and I have myself seen the horses and saddles 
obtained there by the Indians." He found it impossible to 
induce the natives to furnish an escort thither, because, as 




DELISLE, 1722. 

[From his Carte d^Amirique (Paris), showing a river running west, near the source of the Mis- 
sissippi.] 

he says, they feared the revenge of the English at Hudson's 
Bay. " It is evident, then," he adds, " that so long 

The English *' i . i i -ri t i i • 

at Hudson's as tlicsc Indians trade with the Enohsh, there is no 

Bay. ... » ' 

hope of succeeding in finding a western sea. If there 
were no English settlements at Hudson's Bay, all would be 
easy." 

He finally dispatched a body of Indians, without any French 
in company, to this western settlement, and gave them a let- 
ter to its commandant ; but he never heard more of the 
party, — a disappearance which he again laid to dread of the 
English. 




[Philippe Buache'a idea of the Sea of the West, with approaches from the Mississippi and the 
Great Lakes, in a map presented to the Acad, des Sciences, August, 1752, and given iu Exposi 
des decouvertes au nord de la grand mer, par Philippe Buache, September 2, 1755. 



210 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

There was a fresh revival of the English interest just now, 
in the navigation of Hudson's Bay. Parliament had, in 1745, 
offered a reward of .£20,000 to induce a discovery of the north- 
west passage, and it had been found that it was practicable for 
ships of the company to go in and out of the bay in a single 
season without wintering. This all meant for the French an 
eager rivalry in the fur trade to the northwest of Lake Supe- 
rior. 

St. Pierre remained at La Reine till February, 1752. He 
AtLaReine. ^^^^ ^^ timcs good gTouuds for fcariug the worst, for 
^^^^" the Indians were not infrequently insolent and blood- 

thirsty. Abandoning the post, he returned to the settlements, 
At Quebec. ^^^^ ^^^ Octobcr, 1753, was at Quebec. The best he 
1753. could report to Duquesne, now in command, was the 

story of a remote and unknown settlement, such as the old 
Indian had told it. Rumors which Niverville had gathered near 
the mountains seemed to confirm it, though the lieutenant added 
that the Indians from whom he had learned the tale distinctly 
averred that these unknown traders were not English, and did 
not have firearms, — the latter want being a usual concomitant 
of the story. 

Just as the long movement undertaken by Verendrye and St. 
Moncacht- Pierre for a quarter of a century had proved abortive, 
^P"^" and had served little purpose beyond familiarizing the 

public with repeated if not idle stories of a' western sea and its 
civilized coast people, came the publication in Paris of the story 
of Moncacht- Ape. This new revelation of a supposable but 
imaginary configuration of the Pacific coast line unsettled for a 
while the soberer sense of geographers. 

The story of Moncacht- Ape — " one who destroys obstacles 
and overcomes fatigues," as the name is said to signify — is that 
of a Yazoo Indian, who, about the year 1700, traversed the 
continent, and came back to tell the story. His recital, as we 
have it, was made about the year 1725, when he was old and 
garrulous ; and Le Page du Pratz, then a French settler near 
the Natchez, listened to it. It ran thus : — 

Impelled to travel in search of information about the origin 
of his race, and easily severing home ties because he had lost 
wife and children, Moncacht-Ape went among the Chickasaws, 



MONCACHT-APE. 211 

making his inquiries. Getting no satisfaction here, and possessed 
of a vague notion that the east must be the cradle of his people, 
he started toward the sunrise. In the story of his experiences 
in this direction we recognize some knowledge, by hearsay at 
least, of the Falls of Niagara, and some apprehension of the 
extraordinary tides of the Bay of Fundy. Not finding his 
question answered at the east, Moncacht-Ape determined to 
try the west. 

The narrative now carries him north to the Ohio River, which 
he crossed. Tracking a prairie land, he passed the Mississippi 
near the mouth of the Missouri, and gives a recognizable de- 
scription of the commingling of the waters of the two great 
rivers. He followed up the Missouri to a tribe of that name, 
where he wintered and learned their language. He speaks of 
finding large herds of buffalo. In the spring, he started up the 
river again, and among the Canzes (Kansas) he first learned 
of a divide, beyond which a I'iver would be found flowing west. 
The Missouri Indians had told him to follow up their river for 
a single moon, and then to diverge to the north, where, after 
several days' journeying, he would reach a western-flowing river. 
It happened that he was not forced to find his way alone. He 
chanced upon a camp of Otters, as the tribe was called, who 
took him up to a place whence a nine days' march carried the 
party to a turning-point. Here bending their course north, 
after five days they reached the river that flowed west, upon 
which, farther down, these Otters lived. In descending this river, 
our wanderer had the company of some Otters for eighteen 
days. After this he proceeded alone in a dug-out to a village, 
where he tarried for the winter to learn the language spoken 
by a people farther on, which these new friends could teach 
him. In the following spring, he went on to a tribe who wore 
long hair. A blind old chief among them. Big Roebuck, was 
kind to him and promised him an equally good reception from 
the tribes beyond, if he would only say that Big Roebuck was 
his friend. 

If one confidently seeks to identify his landmarks, he was now 
well down the Columbia River. When about a day's journey 
from the sea, he began to hear stories of a strange people who 
annually came to the coast in ships. They were represented 
as white, bearded, and clothed. Their sole purpose of coming 



212 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

was to secure yellow dj'e-wood, which had a disagreeable odor. 
Though they had guns which made a great noise, they withdrew 
if confronted by Indians more numerous than they were. The 
natives had sometimes struggled with these visitors, and the 
strangers had occasionally carried off some of the Indian wo- 
men, but had never captured any men, — so one form of the 
narrative says. The Indians had never succeeded in taking any 
of these strange comers either dead or alive. 

The identification of localities fails here, for there are no 
such dye-woods on the Oregon coast, nor is any tree of a single 
kind so universally prevalent in that region that, if entirely 
destroyed, the country would be treeless, — as is one of the 
statements of the story. 

Moncacht-Ape arrived on the coast at a time when the 
neighboring Indians were gathering for a concerted attack on 
these strangers, who were soon expected to make their annual 
appearance. When the ship appeared, its peojale occupied three 
days in filling water-casks " similar to those in which the French 
put fire-water." After this they scattered to fell the dye-wood 
trees. The savages now attacked them, and killed eleven before 
they reembarked. This gave the narrator an opportunity to 
examine the slain. On two only did he find guns with powder 
and ball. Their bodies were thick and short ; their skin white ; 
their heads heavy, and wound with cloth ; their hair cropped 
except on the middle of the crown ; their garments of a soft 
stuff, and their leggings and shoes one piece, and too small for 
Moncacht-Ape to wear. It was the evident intention of the 
story-teller to convey the impression that the visitors were an 
Oriental people. 

After this conflict, the rover went north along the coast till 
he found the days were growing longer. When he had learned 
that still farther on the land was " cut through from north to 
south," he only expressed what European geographers had fig- 
ured ever since Bering, in 1741, had finally proved the j^roxim- 
ity of the American and Asiatic shores. 

Of Moncacht- Ape's return to the Mississippi valley we have 
no particulars, but he is reported as saying that though he had 
been absent five years, he could go over the same route again 
in thirty-two moons. 

We have the story in two forms, — first as published by 



MONCACHT-APE. 213 

Duraont in his Memoires de la Loidsiane (Paris, 1753), in 
which he professes to have known the Indian, whose ordinary 
name among his people was "The Interpreter," in recognition of 
his mastery of tongues. Duniout acknowledges that he got the 
story from Le Page du Pratz, who published it later, also at 
Paris, in 1758, in his Histoire de la Louisiane. Le j^e Page du 
Page, then, is the source of the story. He had come ^'■'^*^' 
to Louisiana in 1718, and remained there, chiefly near the 
Natchez, till 1734. He had been a wanderer, was of an inquisi- 
tive turn of mind, and a theorist by impulse. He was, more- 
over, interested in discussing the origin of the American Indians. 
This led him to much converse with those among the savages 
who were inteUigeut, and he seemed to think that the Yazoos 
were particularly noteworthy in those habits in which they 
showed a difference from their neighbors. This readily accounts 
for the special intercourse with one of that tribe, who had, or 
was represented as having, similar tastes. Such was the repu- 
tation of Moncacht-Ape. 

At the time when Dumont got the story from Le Page, if 
we can rely upon the way in which Dumont tells it, Le Page 
made it in the ending quite different from the shape in which 
he later published it himself. Le Page must have been in 
France when Dumont printed his version as professedly de- 
rived from Le Page, and yet we have no protest from the 
original narrator that his recital had been changed. 

The difference in the two texts is that Dumont omits some 
part of the details of the bearded men, and makes 

A 1 1 M 1 1 1 Differences 

Moncacht-Ape learn of the other details only by hear- in the texts 

• 111 1 1 • 11 °^ *^® story. 

say, since a hostile tribe had prevented his actually 
getting to the coast. 

So far as the story had influence in later years, the ending 
as given by Le Page seems to have prevailed. It Transmis- 
was made to enter into the considerations affecting sCyio''^ 
the probability of a northwest passage, and Samuel ^'*'^'' *™®^- 
Engle, a few years later, in 1765, discusses it and marks the 
supposed course of the Indians in a map. In 1777, Moncacht's 
farthest point is put down on a map published in a French 
encyclopaedia. In 1829, the tale was translated in the Proceed- 
ings of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and 
during the discussion of the Oregon dispute between England 



214 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

and the United States, Greenliow refers to the story, not with- 
out an inclination to believe it. It got for the first time what 
may be called a scientific treatment when Quatrefages, in the 
Revue cV Anthropologie., in 1881, attracted by its ethnological 
interest, unwaveringly accepted it as an honest recital. Still 
later, Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft, in repeating the story, is 
much inclined to accept the same conclusion. A weightier 
A M Da- judgment on its credibility seems, however, to have 
vis's views, ijggj^ reached by Mr. Andrew McFarland Davis in 
his reexamination of it after Quatrefages's essay. This critic, 
on various grounds, pronounces it to be of the class of fictions 
of which Defoe's Ajyjxiiition of 3Irs. Veal is a conspicuous 
example. He judges that the change in the termination which 
Le Page finally gave to the tale arose from a necessity to save 
it from the discredit into which, in its original form, it would 
The sea of havc fallen at a time when the new notions of Delisle 
the west. ^^^^ Buache respecting a sea of the west were dis- 
placing the earlier drafts of the western coast lines. Duniont 
had given his adhesion to the newer views. 

There is no occasion in the present chapter to go into the 
details of the stories, now discredited, of Admiral Fonte and 
Maldonado, who were said to have made inland discoveries 
by water on the northwest coast in the region where we now 
know the basin of the Columbia to be in part. These stories 
showed the coast hereabouts to have been intersected by large 
inland seas opening on the west to the Pacific, and affording 
passages on the east to Hudson's Bay and other waters of the 
Supposabie Atlantic system. The wish to find such a transverse 
cartography, passage, beginning with the supposabie Straits of 
Anian in the sixteenth century, had never ceased to guide car- 
tographers to point out the way in which it might exist, if they 
could not say that it did exist. Bellin had, as we have seen, in 
these middle days of the eighteenth century (1743), connected 
Lake Superior — which he w'as inclined to put too far north by 
ten degrees — by a water-way \yith the Pacific, and a little later 
(1755), when the new views were overtopping the old, he conjec- 
tured that over the mountains there might be a possible nearly 
landlocked sea of the west. Le Rouge, another French map- 
maker, made a similar westward connection for the Great Lakes 
in 1746. 




RIVER OF THE WEST. 
[From V Amerique, par le Sietcr le Rouge, suivant le B. P. Charlevoix, etc., Paris, 1746.] 



216 THE SEARCH FOR THE SEA OF THE WEST. 

It was shortly after 1750 tliat the theory o£ these great inland 
seas and the story of De Fonte captured the leading 
Buache, Freuch geographer, Delisle, whose maps gained cur- 
e ery8,ec. ^^^^^ ^^^^ central Europe by the rejjublications of 
Covens and Mortier at Amsterdam. The most ardent advo- 
cate of these views, however, was Philippe Buache, and some 
of his maps are a marvel of reticulated waters. The English 
geograi^her Jefferys was tainted with the rest, but he was 
more content to connect in his own mind Lake Winnipeg with 
the alleged inland discoveries of Aguilar from the west. This 
erratic belief died hard, and lingered on in the maps till well 
toward the beginning of the present century. In the Paris 
Atlas Moderne of 1762 and 1771 it was simplified but still 
existed, as it did in the Atlas Nouveau of 1779 and 1782. 

It was evident, with the view of the Pacific coast then pre- 
Their effect vailing, that the simple north and south trend and the 
andiiis^"^*' Columbia valley of the Moncacht-Ape story coidd 
story. j^Q^ stand, and Le Page was forced either to abandon 

it, or join the opponents of the new theories. He did the last, 
and, as Mr. Davis thinks, attributed to the Indian some supposed 
experiences on the coast, the better to maintain his narrative. 

With the breaking out of the war, which was opened by 
Washington in 1754, and on the withdrawal of western 
the west- garrisons beyond what was sufficient to hold vital 
points, there was no favorable opportunity during the 
rest of the eighteenth century to pursue the discoveries in the 
direction of Verendrye's farther quest. The last scheme on 
record was probably an expedition recommended in 1753 by 
Colonel Joshua Fry to Governor Dinwiddie, in which one already 
known to us. Dr. Thomas Walker, " a person of fortune and 
great activity," as the governor calls him, was to have the com- 
mand. The plan was to cross the Alleghanies and discover 
the hidden water-way to the great sea. The impending war 
prevented the expedition starting, but the chances of success 
as they lay in the popidar mind are well exjjressed in a letter 
of the Huguenot, James Maury, written in Virginia in 1756 : 
" When it is considered how far the eastern branches of that 
inunense river, Mississippi, extend eastward, and how near they 
come to the navigable, or rather canoeable parts of the rivers 



MONCACHT-APE. 217 

which empty themselves into the sea that washes our shores 
to the east, it seems highly probably that its western branches 
reach as far the other way, and make as near approaches to 
rivers emptying themselves into the ocean west of us, the 
Pacific Ocean, across which [approaches] a short and easy com- 
munication, short in comparison with the present route thither, 
opens itself to the navigator from that shore of the continent 
with the Eastern Indies." He then goes on to show how the 
stories which Coxe had published thirty years before, of early 
English adventurers, in the upper Mississippi basin, were hav- 
ing their influence in confusing the common belief. " One of 
the branches of the Mississippi, Coxe followed through its vari- 
ous meanders for seven hundred miles (which I believe is called 
Missouri by the natives, or Red River from the color of its 
waters), and then received intelligence from the natives that its 
head-springs interlocked on a neighboring mountain with the 
head-springs of another river to the westward of these same 
mountains, discharging itself into a large lake called Thoyago, 
which pours its waters through a large navigable river into a 
boundless sea, where they told him they had seen prodigious 
large canoes, with three masts and men almost as fair as himself." 
Then making a palpable reference to the Moncacht-Ape story, 
he adds : " As I have read a history of the travels of an Indian 
towards those regions, as well as those of Mr. Coxe, the reports 
of the natives to both of them as to the large canoes are so simi- 
lar that I perhaps may confound one with the other." Maury 
next says that the only copy of Coxe's " very scarce " book 
which he has heard of in Virginia was seen by him at Colonel 
Fry's house, and this leads him to suspect that Coxe's stories 
had incited Fry's scheme of western exploration, to which ref- 
erence has just been made. Maury tells us further that prepa- 
rations had been attentively made by Walker, so as to reach 
an estimate of the expense, when the outbreak of hostilities 
occurred. There were some reasons, even after the project had 
been abandoned, for concealing the purpose from the French, 
and Maury informs his correspondent that " in case the ship I 
write by should be taken, the person to whom I have recom- 
mended this packet has instruction to throw it overboard in 
time." 



CHAPTER XI. 

WAR AND TRUCE. 
1741-1748. 

In the war with Spain, England had suffered in America 
more than her foes. Vernon's unfortunate attack on 

^^ar of 

England and Cartagena (1741) had carried to the grave nine out of 
ten of the contingent which the colonies had added 
to the attacking force. The loss was not great in a population 
now approaching a million ; but it was discouraging. The 
eleven colonial newspapers published along the Atlantic sea- 
Govemor board kept the mishaps from being forgotten. Shir- 
shiriey. ^qj had bccn made governor of Massachusetts Bay, — 
a popular man, at a time when popularity was to count much. 
He was destined to become conspicuous, and though not greatly 
more than respectable in ability, he had some qualities which 
the colonies were to prize in the near future. 

Parliament had at last recognized the necessity of amalga- 
mating the vast alien population which had doubled the num- 
bers on the seaboard in a little more than a score of 

and years. It provided in 1740 that Protestants who had 

Catholic. •; ^ . , , . , , , , . , 

been seven years in the colonies could be naturalized, 

but in New England the law had little effect. : The religious dis- 
tinction was significant. France and Spain as Catholic powers 
were pressing hard on the colonial frontiers. ' Local legislation 
in New England had long nurtured Protestant antipathies, and 
there was a gieesome joy among the Boston people when Fleet 
the printer printed — as the story goes — some jjopular ballads 
, on the blank side of a bull of Pope Urban, of which a 

Boston and iiiii . ^ . . -.t 

New bale had been captured in a Spanish prize. The !New 

England metropolis was now in her proudest days, if 

the pinnacle to which commerce may lift a town determines 

that comparative preeminence. In 1741, there were forty top- 



THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE. 219 

sail vessels on the stocks in Boston shipyards, and this meant 
an active leadership in all places where there was trade by sea. 
There was no enemy o£ England in the Gulf of St. Lawrence or 
on the Spanish main which the privateers of New England did 
not reach. The forests of New Hampshire afforded the best 
masts that a royal frigate could have. In every eligible harbor 
about the gulf of Maine they were building ships for the Brit- 
ish navy and barkentines for the English merchants. 

It was in New England that the crown had its best compacted 
body of subjects. They constituted perhaps two fifths of all 
that were living on the Atlantic slope, and rarely had a people 
developed in a more self-contained way. They had 

. • ^ T''e spirit of 

long been m the habit of settmg up pretensions that mdepeu- 
ill became dependent colonies. They were conscious, 
too, of a certain sympathy for these aspirations which were now 
and then manifested in the advanced sentiments of wary Eng- 
lishmen. Murray the lawyer, later to be famous as Lord Mans- 
field, was becoming known in his opinions upon an ominous 
constitutional question. He held that the king, and not Parlia- 
ment, could compel a colony to tax itself for the benefit of the 
whole. Samuel Adams, prefiguring the colonial claim, was 
selecting for his graduating thesis at Harvard : " Whether it 
be lawful to resist superior magistrates, if the Commonwealth 
cannot be otherwise preserved." 

Kalm, the German traveler, shows us how, a little later, he 
was conscious that this feeling, which Samuel Adams's youthful 
ebullitions indicated, so pervaded the colonies that he felt it 
was only the necessity of combining against the French which 
could insure continued dependence on the mother country. 
Joshua Gee had already thought it worth his while to array the 
risks in order to disprove them. " Some gentlemen," he had 
said, '•'• assert that if we encourage the plantations they will 
grow rich and set up for themselves and cast off the English 
government." But he looked to the diverse interests and jeal- 
ousies of the several colonies to preserve their dependence on 
the mother country. It was these disunited interests which 
made the Indians liken the colonies to a chain of sand, and Gee 
spoke of these mutual antipathies as making the colonies " like 
a bold and rapid river, which, though resistless when inclosed 
in one channel, is yet easily resistible when subdivided into 



220 WAR AND TRUCE. 

several inferior streams." This disagreement among- the several 
Lack of colonial governments had indeed become notorious, 
the English It was in fact almost if not quite impossible to induce 
colonies. ^|^g southcrn colonies to share the cost borne by New- 
York and New England in confronting, for the benefit of all, 
the French from Canada. No otie perceived this lack of ad- 
hesion more clearly than the Indians, and there was a touch 
of satire in the Ii'oquois when they advised the English to act 
in such concert as their confederacy was accustomed to do. 

This was the condition of the British colonies, when a turn 
War de- ^^^ European politics disclosed a new drama both in 
ciared. 1744. ^.j^g Qj^^ World and the New. The English colonies, 
with all their repellent forces mutually exerted, had become 
prosperous in trade, and perhaps the more so because of an ill- 
concealed zest in thwarting the restraints of the navigation laws 
imposed upon them. This was in their enterprises b}^ sea ; 
those by land were making the French believe that the English 
activity threatened the comjjlete absorption of the western fur 
trade. 

Golden, in preparing a new edition (1742) of his History 
of the Five Nations, had the distinct purpose " of drawing the 
attention of the ministry and Parliament to the interests of 
North America in respect to the fur trade, and the encroach- 
ments which the French are daily making on our trade and set- 
tlements." At the same time Clinton was urging the occupa- 
tion of Irondequoit Bay and Crown Point. All this had thrown 
the French into a sort of desperation, when their antagonism 
was intensified by the declaration of war in Europe. 

Henry Pelham was now the prime minister of England. 
Dettingen had been fought in June, 1743. There was no know- 
ing what the Pretender might attempt. It was necessary to 
keep faith with Austria and the other supporters of the Prag- 
matic Sanction, and this brought England into opposition to 
France. The French promptly declared war, March 15, 1744, 
and England accepted the challenge on April 11. Beauharnois, 
the Canadian governor, anticipating war, had already reinforced 
Crown Point, Fort Frontenac, and Niagara. He had for the 
coming struggle perhaps six hundred regulars and some fifteen 
thousand Canadian militia all told. Such a force could be 
successfully met only by some concert of action among the 



OSWEGO ABANDONED. 221 

English, and Governor Clinton was urging, with little chance 
of success, a union of the colonies. 

The word that hostilities were determined upon reached Can- 
ada in the sprino- of 1744 ; but it was not till June 

-n rm • • • f • TidiugS of 

1 that they knew it in Boston. This priority ot m- hostutiea 
formation gave the French some advantage, and they America. 
profited by it in Acadia. They were hardly prepared 
to spring upon Oswego in this same interval, though the Eng- 
lish later wondered they had not, after it began to be feared 
that the war was going to jeopardize the trade at that post. 
The stockade there had been suffered to decay, and two years 
before it was pronounced defenseless. Governor Clarke, in 1743, 
had feared for it even before war was declared, and in urging 
the home government to protect it better, he had pictured to 
them the disaster which would follow its fall, and particularly 
the alienation of the Iroquois. Now upon the French being 
earlier informed than the English of the declaration of war, the 
confederates had been promptly notified by messengers from 
Quebec, who told the Indians to expect a sharp contest and an 
easv victory for the French. Before the summer was 

T-. . /-\ 1 Oswego 

far advanced, the English traders at Oswego became abandoned 
alarmed and abandoned it in a body. Governor Clin- 
ton, when he heard of this rapid desertion, dreaded its effect 
upon the western Indians, who had been so securely held by 
the opportunities of trade which Oswego offered. Both French 
and English hastened to send emissaries among the confeder- 
ates, the one to use the flight of the traders, " cowards as they 
are," as signs of the failing fortunes of the English, and the 
other to try, but unsuccessfully, to induce these Indians to hold 
that post against the French, till a garrison could be sent there. 
So the summer and autumn (1744) passed, and the hostile forces 
had not confronted one another in the field. Meanwhile, there 
was far from confidence in the authorities at Quebec, who were 
anxiously looking for Boston privateers in the St. Lawrence. 

The next year, 1745, the New England militia under Pep- 
perrell, aided by some royal ships under Sir Peter War- 

' / , "^, /t • 1 oi • 1 Shirley and 

ren, made a Jucky stroke at L<ouisbourg. ohirley, Louisbourg. 
whose energy and luck had conduced to this yeoman 
victory, wrote to the Earl of Newcastle that the capture of 
Louisbourg had secured the Newfoundland fisheries and estab- 



222 WAR AND TRUCE, 

lished a nursery for seamen. These things, he contended, made 
the way easy to master the northern parts of America, if their 
success were promptly followed up by an invasion of Canada. 
The conquest of the west was to be made by fighting a battle 
in the north. 

New England and New York took the campaign in hand, and 
troops were raised. Newcastle promised to support 

Proposed i • i n ■\HT^ mi • 

invasion of them With a ileet. VV hile these preparations were 
making, there were vexatious raids all along the New 
England frontiers, and Fort Massachusetts was taken. The 
main energy of suffering New England was directed to rein- 
forcing Clinton for an advance on Crown Point and Montreal. 
The New York governor had sore need of all the comfort which 
New York Ncw England could give him. His assembly were 
politics. stubborn in their opposition to his plans. The prov- 
ince had a chief justice in De Lancey who, in efforts to embar- 
rass the chief magistrate, knew how to smirch his robes with 
a politician's touch. These intestine quarrels demoralized the 
militia and disconcerted the neighboring confederates. It gave 
the French new opportunities, and as Franklin, a looker-on, 
said of the Indians, the English could afford " to spare no arti- 
fice, pains, or expense to gain them." 

To add to the discouragement, the English fleet, expected 
at Boston, never appeared. Instead of the stir of 
alarmed. Warlike preparation which Boston had hoped for in 
her harbor, the town was thrown into consternation 
from an expected attack. Shirley, in September, 1746, learned 
that a French fleet under Admiral D'Anville was at sea with 
orders to attack Boston and recover Louisbourg. The troops 
sent to Clinton were hurriedly returned to defend the coast. 
D' Anville's ships were happily scattered in a storm, and Boston 
breathed freer. 

Both sides had failed of their purpose, and the western ques- 
tion had not been helped to a solution. There was a suspicion 
that the backwardness of the home government in not sending 
a fleet was due to an apprehension that another success like 
Louisbourg might bring the colonies to an inordinate sense of 
their importance. Those who wished to keep the friendship of 
the Iroquois and the more distant tribes had more pressing 



GALISSONNIERE, 223 

apprehensions in that, as Conrad Weiser expressed it, the fail- 
ure of the expedition to Canada "had done a great deal of 
hurt, since no man is able to excuse it to the Indians." AVeiser 
had never doubted the Iroquois neutrality, but he had Neutral 
all along- maintained that they could not be urged to ^"""i""'^- 
active hostilities against the French, and the untoward cam- 
paign had rendered, to some, even their neutrality uncertain,, 
One thing, however, had happened on which the English had 
reason to depend. A band of Chickasaws had come north eager 
to wreak vengeance on the French for some affront which had 
been put upon their tribe. This opportunity for the English 
had influenced the Senecas, usually much inclined to the French, 
to hold back from aiding them. 

With all this inaction, the trans- Alleghany question grew 
more and more complicated for the English, when a coiden's 
new embarrassment unexpectedly occiu'red in the luck- f/ons^"^ 
less phrasing of the title of a new edition of Coiden's ^^' ^^*^* 
book on the Five Nations, which was again reprinted in London 
in 1747. This was a statement that the " Six Nations lived in 
Canada," which the French eagerly seized upon as an acknow- 
ledgment that the Iroquois country, south of Ontario, was within 
the bounds of Canada. 

There came a vigorous spirit to the French at Quebec, in the 
person of their new governor, Galissonniere, who ar- Qaiisson. 
rived there September 19, 1747, to assume command Canada. 
over the fifty thousand people of the St. Lawrence ^^^^' 
valley. He was not attractive in person ; in fact, he was de- 
formed. His mind, however, was as alert, and his impidses were 
as steady, as was befitting a commander facing great odds. He 
had a finn purpose to check the English wherever he could 
find them throughout either the St. Lawrence or the Mississippi 
valley. He felt equal to the task everywhere except by sea, 
and he was anxious lest Quebec should be attacked by an Eng- 
lish fleet. So, when he learned of Shirley's hoj^e to make a 
winter attack on Crown Point, it caused him little apprehen- 
sion, for he knew New York had no desire to undertake the 
task. He was not quite prepared to plunge upon Oswego, now 
reoccupied by the English, but he sought to intercept its trade 
by founding Fort Rouille at the modern Toronto. 



224 WAR AND TRUCE. 

The spring and summer of 1748 were rife with rumors of 

peace, and William Johnson was exerting himself 
the Iroquois, auioug the Onondagas to foil the persistent efforts of 

the French to gain them over in a body. The con- 
federates were, in July, brought to a council at Albany and 
urged to expel the French emissaries among them, and to 
desist from their incursions against the western tribes. Weiser 
was sent among these Ohio Indians to warn them against too 

much confidence in any peace which the French prom- 
theohio iscd. " A French peace is a very uncertain one," he 

told them. " They keep it no longer than their inter- 
est permits. The French king's people have been almost 
starved in Old France, and our wise people are of the opinion 
that after their belly is full again, they will once more quarrel 
and raise a war." It was a weighty prophecy. 

The French had among them in Canada another person who 
Ahh6 was quite as vigilant and far-seeing as Galissonniere, 

Piquet. j^j^^i ^j-^jg .^g^g ^Yie Abbe Piquet, now a man of forty. 

The governor had already asked (October, 1747) the minister 
to give him a pension for the zeal with which he had planned 
and instigated more than one hostile raid upon the English 
borders. The main object of this wary man was to break the 
alliance of the Iroquois with the English. Already, at Caugh- 
nawaga, near Montreal, about three hundred Mohawks and 
Oneidas had been drawn away from their own country to form 
a settlement. To make similar drafts upon the Onondagas, 
Cayugas, and Senecas was Piquet's immediate purpose, and in 
September, 1748, he set out from Quebec with the intention 
of selecting the fittest site for a mission. Not long after, Galis- 
sonniere succeeded in drawing deputies from the confederates 
to Quebec, and put to them the crucial question of their fealty 
to the English. " We hold our lands of Heaven," they said, 
" and have never ceded any." The French had longed for just 
such an asseveration to meet the claims of the Iroquois sub- 
jection, now constantly advanced by the English. 

But this and all other questions in dispute between the two 
crowns were studiously imored by the diplomats who 

Treaty of ,,. ■,■,.!• • i-i 

Aix-ia-chv had lust succecded in patcmno^ up a truce m which 

pelle. 1748. . 

neither party had any confidence. This truce, called 



PIQUET AND LA PRESENTATION. 225 

the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, consummated October 7, 1748, was 
proclaimed in Montreal July 27, 1749, but it had been known 
in Boston in the previous May, — a new instance of the disad- 
vantage to Canada, during a large part of the year, in being 
shut off from communication with France by an ice-locked river. 

The peace broke up the alliance of England and Austria. It 
secured for England a renewal of her profits in the West India 
slave trade. It restored to France all that she had lost at Louis- 
bourg and elsewhere. The claims of the French against the 
pretensions of the English sea-to-sea charters were left untouched, 
and the dispute over the barrier of the Appalachians remained 
unsettled. 

No one understood this dubious outcome of the war better 
than the little humpbacked governor at Quebec. He knew that 
it gave to his countrymen a breathing-time, so that they might 
the better prepare for the final struggle in the Great Valley. 
He began now, with a finer appreciation of the true 

1 . . . . 1 r. 1 • 1 Galisson- 

coloniziuff spn*it tiian any or his predecessors, except, niereandthe 

1 ^11-1111 1 • . Ohio valley. 

perhaps, Lhamplam, had had, to urge upon the minis- 
ters the sending of sturdy peasants to occupy the Ohio valley. 
But he asked in vain, while in the same hour the flower of 
France, in her Huguenots, were being hunted down and allowed 
no asylum even in her colonies. 

Piquet's aims were, in some sense, the complement of those of 
Galissonniere, and he had now selected a spot for his 

X -n / • 1 • c 1 c Piquet and 

mission at Lia r resentation, near tlie site or the future La Pi^sen- 
Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence. The position was 
well chosen, since it covered the Indian trails both north and 
south of Lake Ontario. It was further well placed in being at 
the mouth of a stream which had its source near the Mohawks, 
and which was a ready route for their canoes to the St. Law- 
rence. The Mohawks, being perhaps the most persistent in the 
English interest of all the confederates, soon fell upon the little 
post (November, 1749). This led to a reinforcement, and the 
missionary was aided by the Quebec government to construct a 
palisade, mount a few guns, and build magazines and a mill. In 
a year or two. Piquet saw a colony of eager converts clustered 
around him. The civil authorities found in this mission of the 
church a new help to divert the Indian trade from Oswego, 
since it added another station on the way to Montreal. 




Jjoad an Al^fr : /-'ff r Z? ft,'' //y7^ 




^{^yi£\ TF^/fofti ttcxmiart, 



228 WAR AND TRUCE. 

To increase his dependents, Piquet later (June, 1751) made 
the circuit of Lake Ontario in a boat to pick up adherents, and 
they in the end became so numerous — chiefly Onondagas and 
Cayugas — that at times he successfully disputed the influence 
of William Johnson among those tribes. 

Bigot, who had come to the colony as intendant, encouraged 
the undertaking as affording a base for a future attack 
on Oswego, " a post the most pernicious to France that 
the English could erect." But Bigot's influence was one of 
peril, as the sequel showed. He reflected, in these later years 
of the French power, the brilliant frivolities, the whimsical ca- 
prices, the mischief and vanity into which French history was 
transformed by Louis XV. and the Pompadour. Voltaire and 
Power of Montesquieu were unheeded ; but, nevertheless, France 
France. ^^^ g^-]^j imposiug, and the Bourbons as a family were 
powerful. France could lay one hand on India, and as yet the 
other covered the major part of North America. Her military 
prowess had failed rather in her officers than in her men. The 
king made bureaucracy a potent agency, and it cared as little 
for the nobles as it did for the rabble. Such were France and 
New France when the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle left both mother 
country and province with a struggle to come. 

On the whole, England could face this coming trial wdth little 
Condition of Confidence. Her army and navy gave small hope. 
England. There was but scant virility in her social conditions. 
Mediocrity and corruption were hardly less patent than they 
were on the other side of the Channel. Scandal and turpitude 
easily made heroes. Gossip was deadly. Beau Nash was as 
baleful, though in a different way, as John Law had been in 
Paris. The clergy were menial. Highwaymen had their Lives 
written. The royal family was bickering like the common herd. 
But William Pitt was ripening. 



CHAPTER XII. 

» 

THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 
1740-1749. 

Already, by 1740, in tlie valley of Virginia, in addition to 
the patents of Beverly and Borden, various small 
grants had been made by Governor Blair. Log dwell- Virginia. 
ings were springing np here and there as the Scotch- 
Irish and Germans spread along the banks of the Shenandoah. 
The valley was spotted with tomahawk claims, as squatters' rights 
were termed, traceable for years by the lighter color of the 
wound made by the woodsman's hatchet on the boundary trees. 
There were no wagon roads as yet, but bridle paths went from 
house to house, and led up to the eastern passes, where the buffalo 
had once made their traces. Hither, on court days, the frontiers- 
men went to the more civilized centres toward the rivers which 
flowed into the Chesapeake, where along their banks an Angli- 
can governing clan held the country. The best traveled trail 
came from the north, and crossing the Fluvanna, a headstream 
of the James, found its way by the defile of the Staunton River, 
and then turned south. It next passed the Dan, and came to 
the Yadkin, a river which, rising in . North Carolina, joins the 
Pedee and then seeks the ocean. 

Colonel Abraham Wood had led an expedition up the Dan, 
a branch of the Roanoke, in 1744. Passing the Blue 
Ridge by what came to be known as Wood's Gap, he Abraiiam 
followed on the other side a stream which flowed into Kanawha. 

17-14. 

the New River, and thus opened one of the upper 
routes to the Kanawha, an affluent of the Ohio. It was twenty 
years before this that Joshua Gee had urged the planting of 
colonies beyond these mountains, but only now, in 1748, was a 
way opened to induce the earliest English settlement, with do- 
mestic life, beyond the Alleghanies. 



230 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

The Lords of Trade bad urged tlie Privy Council to author- 
ize the governor of Virginia to make grauts of land 

Settlers in . 

the valley of in tliis direction. Virginia had at this time about 

eighty-two thousand inhabitants ; but only a few hun- 
dred had as yet made a movement into the Shenandoah valley, 
and there was just now a purpose shown to cross the inner 
chain of the Appalachians. There had already been grants 

of land made beyond the mountains to Dr. Thomas 
expiora- Walker, Colonel James Wood, Colonel James Patton, 

and others ; and Walker organized a party to make 
exjjlorations thitherward. They entered Powell's valley near 
Laurel Ridge, and pushed westward beyond the sources of the 
Clinch River. They were mindfid enough of the proud duke 
who had crushed the Scots' rebellion, to place the name of 
Cumberland on the gap and river, which they were the first to 
find. They turned northeast and reached the springs of the 
Big Sandy River, passed on to the Louisa Fork, and then wended 
their way eastward to New River. Walker was enabled thus 
to be of assistance to Evans in the mapping of this region at a 

later day. The result of this movement was the incor- 

Loyal Land , '^ 

Company. poratiou of the Loyal Land Company in June, 1749, 
which had a grant of eight hundred thousand acres 
above the North Carolina line and west of the mountains. In 
the November follpwing, Governor Lee of Virginia informed 
Governor Harrison of Pennsylvania of these and other grants, 
and of his purpose to assist the pioneers in establishing a settle- 
ment and building a fort. He at the same time complained of 
the traders of Pennsylvania, who incited the Indians to mis- 
chief. He added that in view of the threatening attitude of 
France, It behooved both provinces to stand united in making 
this western progress. 

On the divide between the upper waters of the Roanoke and 
Draper's Ncw River was a beautiful intervale, the pasturing 
Meadows. grouud of large game, known as Draper's Meadows. 
The local antiquaries hold that shortly after the return of 
Walker's party, the Inglis family and others j)assed over to the 
New River side of the divide and formed a settlement. It was 
here, in 1749, that the house of Adam Harmon was attacked 
by the Indians, the earliest instance of such devastation west of 
the mountains. The Draper's Meadows settlement lay to the 



232 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

north of the line run in 1749 by Colonel Joshua Fry and Peter 
Jefferson, — father of Thomas, — which separated Virginia from 
Carolina, and was not yet carried farther west, athwart the 
sources of the Tennessee. 

More to the north, and well within the valley of Virginia, 
there were at the same time other and unknown w^anderers, 
The Green- pushing aloug beyoud the springs of the James and 
bner River, grossing the height of land which brought them upon 
the river later kno^vn as the Greenbrier, — opening still another 
route to the Kanawha and the Ohio. We have seen that far- 
ther down the Shenandoah and beyond a transverse line which 
connected the sources of the Rappahannock and the Potomac, 
Fairfax ^^^^ mauor of Lord Fairfax stretched across the valley, 
manor. While thesc pioneers farther south were working 

westward, the young George Washington, dragging a survey- 
or's chain, was wandering over the five or six million acres 
which constituted this nobleman's estate. The youthful sur- 
veyor says he was struck " with the trees and richness of the 
land," during his summer's work in marking out the spaces of 
this vast domain. 

The English claim toward the west, based on their sea-to-sea 
charters, was at best illusory, but in New York, in Vir- 

TheEnglish . . \ . ^ t • p \ i • i i 

eea-to-sea gmia, and m the colonies farther south, it nevertheless 
western was of coiistaiit interest as the warrant for this western 
progress. Massachusetts was to find a like interest be- 
fore the century closed, — as Connecticut was finding one even 
now, — but in this earlier half of the century New England was 
thinking more of what might come from a western trade than 
from jurisdiction which she could not enforce. It is noticeable 
that Dr. Douglass of Boston, when he wrote on the subject, was 
quite content with the line of the Appalachians, if the trade 
with the Chickasaws and Cherokees could only be assured. 
Another Bostonian, Dr. Franklin, now became prominent in 
Pennsylvania politics, and a resident of a province which had a 
definite western limit by charter had much less difficulty than 
a Virginian would have felt in coming to the conclusion that, 
after all, these sea-to-sea charters were awkward, and the AUe- 

NoTE. The opposite map is from Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, 1751. It shows the 
lower Shenandoah, the Fairfax residence, and the wagon road from Philadelphia. 



234 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

ghanies were a natural limit to the Atlantic colonies. But he 
by no means denied the right of the crown to the trans- Alle- 
ghany region. He was indeed a strenuous advocate 
views on the of ncw colouics, with ucw bouuds, beyond the moun- 
tains, to be maintained as barriers against the French. 
To those who would listen, he pictured the vast fertility of these 
distant valleys and the alluring possibilities of a great system 
of inland navigation. He saw no reason why, in a century, this 
vast area of the Ohio and beyond might not become a populous 
domain " either to England or to France." He was alarmed 
at the French encroachments upon it, and advocated, as we shall 
see, the setting up of two strong English colonies between Lake 
Erie and the Ohio, so as to protect the back settlements of Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia, and Carolina, and also to prevent " the 
dreaded junction of Canada and Louisiana." 

The English had for a time found it more profitable to base 
other claims, as we have already mentioned and shall more 
fully explain in another chapter, upon the surrender by the 
Iroquois of jurisdiction over a vast western country. It is 
quite uncertain if the confederates understood this concession 
as the English did, and the latter claimed that the French had 
unconditionally recognized this acquired right in the treaty of 
Utrecht (1713) ; but the French professed certainly 

The Anglo- i-ii • r-^ ^ i tip ii-* i 

Iroquois to thmk otlicrwise. Colden had set forth this Anglo- 
Iroquois claim as based on the conquest of the country 
by the confederates " about the year 1666," when, " amply sup- 
plied by the English with firearms, they gave a full swing to 
their warlike genius and carried their arms as far south as 
Carolina, and as far west as the river Mississippi, over a vast 
country, which extended twelve hmidred miles in length from 
north to south, and about six hundred in breadth, where they 
entirely destroyed whole nations, of whom there are no accounts 
remaining among the English." When, in 1755, the English 
were fairly embarked in their final struggle with France, 
Mitchell, the geographer, claimed that " the Six Nations have 
extended their territory to the river Illinois ever since 1672, 
when they subdued and incorj^orated the ancient Chaouanons 
[Shawnees]. . . . Beside which they exercise a right of con- 
quest over the Illinois and all the Mississippi, as far as they ex- 
tend. This was confirmed by their own claims to possession in 



TREATY OF LANCASTER. 235 

1742 [at the treaty iu Pliiladelphia] , and none liave ever tliouglit 
fit to dispute them. . . . Tlie Ohio Indians are a mixed tribe 
of the several Indians of our colonies, settled here under the 
Six Nations, who have always been in alliance and subject to 
the English." 



There was an unfortunate encounter of the Virginia militia 
with the Iroquois in the valley of the Shenandoah in Virginians 
1742, which for a while boded mischief. The confed- i^quois. 
erates claimed a reserved right to a passage south for ^^^"" 
their war parties against the Catawbas, along the most westerly 
wall of the mountains, and had demanded that the English 
refrain from settling along that trail. This had been agreed to 
by Spotswood, in consideration of their warriors not attempt- 
ing to follow their older path on the eastern side of the valley. 
The promise had not been kept, and a skirmish occurred. The 
Virginians claimed that the Iroquois had agreed (1741) not to 
molest the Catawbas, and but for their failure to keep their 
promise, there would have been no difficulty. The confederates 
replied that the Catawbas had not come to them to confirm the 
peace, as the English had promised they would, but had sent 
taunting messages. The encomiter destroyed confidence on 
both sides, and the Indians sent messengers to the Ottawas 
asking them to join in resisting the English if they sought to 
avenge their loss. The Virginians, however, preferred to allay 
the feeling by giving some presents. 

Underlying it all, however, was a deeper question, which 
pertained to the rights of the Iroquois to be compensated by the 
English for the occupation of these mountainous regions. The 
confederates had already been thinking of the French as a 
resort in case of need. Governor Clarke was reporting how 
" complacent these Indians now were to the French, but only 
through fear, knowing them to be a treacherous and enterpris- 
ing people." 

To settle this question of compensation, and to elicit further 
confii'mation of the savages' friendship and land ces- 
sions, the English had determined upon a new confer- Lancaster. 
ence. All the confederated tribes, except the Mohawks, 
met at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with the commissioners from 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The meetings began on 



236 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

June 22, and were continued to July 4, 1744. Conrad Weiser 
The Mon- "^as present as the principal interpreter for the English,/ 
tours. ^^^ |.jjQ Indians had a witness in Madam Montour, 

the half-breed captive of the Indians, who was now a woman of 
sixty. Her usual attendant, her son Andrew, was now absent, 
on the warpath against the Catawbas, by whom his father had 
been killed a few years before. 

The commissioners from Virginia professed to the Indians 
The Indian ^hat thcsc wcstcm lands were without occupants when 
the^"giish ^^®y fi^^^ knew them. They added that the English 
claims. king "held Virginia by right of conquest, and the 

bounds of that conquest to the westward is the great sea." 
The Iroquois's answer had the dignity of truth and good man- 
ners : " Though great things are well remembered among us, 
yet we don't remember that we were ever conquered by the 
great king [of England], or that we have been employed by 
that great king to conquer others. If it was so, it was beyond 
our memory." It is safe to say it is beyond the cognizance of 
the historian, who knows that truth is not necessarily an essen- 
tial of a treaty-speech. " All the world knows," exclaimed a 
chief, " that we conquered these lands, and if ever the Virginians 
get a good title to them they must get it through us." 

When the Maryland commissioners claimed that they had 
owned their lands a hundred years, an Iroquois chief laughed, 
and said his people had owned them for much longer than a 
hundred years, and it was these Potomac lands which they 
asked pay for. 

The conference ended in the payment of £400 by the English, 
Deed given ^ud the dccds Were passed for an indefinite extent of 
by Indians, territory west of the Alleghanies. Both savage and 
white knew perfectly well that the title they passed and received 
was a dubious one, for it was contested by other tribes of Indi- 
ans, as well as by the French. It answered, however, the Eng- 
lish purpose to have their right substantiated against their 
rivals by docmnentary records of some sort. 

Note. The map on the opposite page is from Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, showing 
Beverly manor and the upper valley of the Slienandoah. To the riglit of tlie dotted " Boundary 
Line " is Lord Fairfax's manor, embracing the lower valley of the Slienandoah. The river sources 
near the "Calf-pasture" are those of tlie upper aflSuents of the James River, beyond the Blue 
Eidge. The road allowed by the Indians at tlie treaty of Lancaster in 1744, beginiuug in Virginia, 
followed down the Shenandoah valley and passed on to Philadelphia. 



238 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

The treaty also confirmed to them the right to a great wagon 
Road and foacl, Starting from Philadelphia, and passing through 
*'^"'- Lancaster and York to the Potomac at Williams's 

Ferry. Thence it ran up the valley of Virginia to Winchester, 
and then followed an Indian trail still farthej south. 

The Virginia commissioners, in presenting their case, traced 
The Virginia l^^ck their alliance with the Indians to treaties fifty- 
demands, eight and seventy years earlier, " when we and you 
became brethren." There are two passages in the speeches that 
were interchanged which are significant in the English mouth, 
and pathetic in the savage. The commissioners reminded them 
that the tribes had agreed, in a treaty with Governor Spotswood, 
not to come east of the mountains, while the Virginians on their 
part pledged themselves not to let these tidewater Indians pass 
the other way ; but the commissioners added that this could be 
no bar to the English themselves passing west. The Indians in 
reply referred to their concessions of land, and said, with an 
emotion easily understood : " What little we have gained from 
selling the land goes soon away ; but the land which you gain 
lasts forever ! " 

This meeting at Lancaster was the first considerable confer- 
Pennsyi- cucc that had been held in Pennsylvania. It showed 
vania. j^^^ ^|^g Quaker province had come into prominence 

in its rivalry with New York. The over-mountain trade was 
making the Pennsylvania settlements prosperous. Lancaster 
liad a population busy in the making of pack-saddles. The 
Germans now far outnumbered the original English stock, and 
they had been largely recruited, as we have seen, from the dis- 
contented Palatines of the Mohawk. A pampldeteer of the 
day reflected a current opinion when he spoke of this accession 
of aliens as " a happy event, which no nation except England 
ever met with, in having the power to raise a great empire in 
Anuerica without draining the country of its useful subjects." 

These Pennsjdvania Dutch, as they were colloquially called, 
had come from countries where the roads were good. Thoy had 
accordingly given to the highways of their new home a part of 
the excellence they had been accustomed to in the Old World. 
These roads all converged from the west upon Philadelphia, now 
a town of thirteen thousand souls. Thither the traders' wagons 
came from the Indian country, bringing peltry and news. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA PASSES. 239 

The most important position in this country for communicat- 
ing with the distant tribes was at the forks of the shamokin,- 
Susquehanna, whence the Ohio trail ran up the west the su'sque- 
branch, and crossing the mountains reached Kittan- ^'*™^' 
ning on the Alleghany. Here at Shamokin, as the forks were 
called, lived Shikellimy, an Oneida chief, — father of Logan, 
later celebrated, — who, in the name of the Iroquois, exercised 
a sort of lordship over the tribes hereabouts tributary to the 
Iroquois. He had acquired a good name with the English as a 
gracious mediator, and when he died, December 17, 1748, Zeis- 
berger and his Moravians tenderly buried him. 

A scandalous act of Thomas Penn some years back (1737) 
had asserted inordinate claims to land by virtue of The Walking 
what was known as the " Walking Purchase." The ^^'^<^^^'^- 
extent of the concession was dependent on the distance a man 
could walk in a day and a half by an honest tramp. By trick 
and sly advantages practiced by Penn's agents, the The 
Delawares' favorite haunts were brought within this ^^lawares. 
English acquisition. The poor creatures persisted in retaining 
occupancy of their own, and Penn called upon the Iroquois to 
eject them, which in subserviency they did. A part of this 
distressed people then scattered into the Wyoming valley, 
whence they drove out some ubiquitous Shawnees, who hap- 
pened to be there. They were in turn pushed out by the Eng- 
lish, and in 1740 they had resolved to cross the mountains and 
join the Wyandots on the Muskingum. Other portions of the 
Delawares lingered upon the Juniata, among some ^hg 
other Shawnees who were seated there as tributaries •'^'^^*^- 
of the Iroquois ; but it was not long before the confederates 
complained to the governor of Pennsylvania that English set- 
tlers were crowding these dependents, and that the English 
agents who were sent to dislodge the settlers had become so 
enchanted with the country as to become settlers there them- 
selves. 

The increasing trade by which Pennsylvania was profiting 
carried with it all the demoralizino; influences of a 

•n T CI 1 ^^^ traders, 

traffic beyond the reach of law. Many of the traders 

Note. The map on the following pages is a part of A Map of Pensilvania, New Jersey, New 
York, and the Three Delaware Counties, by Lewis Evans, MDCCXLIX. 



242 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

deserved the name which Franklin gave them, of being " the 
most vicious and abandoned wretches of our nation." The gov- 
ernor of the province had more than once, in reference to these 
fellows, warned the assembly that it might become necessary 
to prohibit individual ventures in this traffic and make it a 
government monopoly. The savages had come to believe, under 
the pernicious habits prevailing, that the white man's religion 
was rum and debauchery. When the New Englander, Sargeant 
of Stockbridge, had come among them, the Indians had scorned 
the instruction which he offered. It was apt to be thus that 
the English trader blasted the hopes of the Protestant mission- 
ary. It was as a rule otherwise with the influence of the French 
and the trader on the mission of the Jesuit and Capuchin. 
priests. Still, Catholicism as well as Protestantism was not 
without trial in the presence of the bushrangers of either nation. 
Franklin recognized this difficulty when he proposed to hold 
the tribes in the English interest by a trained militia, so as to 
protect both white and savage from the evils of the frontier. 
The Quaker assembly of Pennsylvania had persistently opposed 
all military legislation, and Franklin effectively answered their 
arguments in his Plain Truth (1746). The Germans, who 
had no aversion to powder, were fast becoming a power 

The defense . 

of Pennsyi- in the asscmbly, and in the dozen years following, 
and under renewed stress of danger, something like 
fifty stockades were built along the Pennsylvania borders. But 
dread of danger had long called for vigilance in a community 
that could perpetrate a " Walking Purchase." The story of 
that disgraceful deceit was spread easily among indignant tribes, 
and was known beyond the mountains. In November, 1747, an 
attempt was made to soothe a deputation of chiefs from the 
Ohio tribes, in a conference at Philadelphia. These Indians 
were bold enough to tell the commissioners that if they pitted 
the tribes against the French on the Ohio, the least they could 
do was to aid them in the imposed task. This faihire 

The English » , -r-« t t • i • i 

and the of the English to support the Indians in wars which 

Indians. ° ^ ^ <• i i . 

the savages undertook for the defense of the colonies 
was nothing new. The constancy of support which, under 
similar circumstances, the French afforded their Indian allies 
had not a little to do with the way in which the French for 
many years combated so successfully the far more numerous 



THE TWIGHTWEES. 243 

English. "The several governments of the English colonies," 
wi'ites Colonel Stoddard at this time (1747) to Governor Shir- 
ley, had for three years been persuading the Iroquois '* into a 
war wherein they had not any concern but to serve their friends, 
and they have left their hunting and other means of living and 
exposed themselves and families for our sakes," only to be left 
in the lurch. It was scarcely better for the colonial soldiers, in 
the neglect they suffered from the provincial assemblies. Stod- 
dard adds : Colonel Johnson and his friends " waste their sub- 
stance " in paying for the equipments of their warriors. The 
Indians did not fail to observe this selfishness of the colonial 
legislatures. Joshua Gee had offered some very good advice 
when he said, " If our people cannot come up to the engaging 
ways the French use with the Indians, at least good manners 
should be shown to them." 

There was, in some respects, a surprising sense of forgiveness 
in the Indian for all such slights, and the English knew the 
soothing efficacy of rum and strouds. The colonists brought 
about a new conference at Lancaster in July, 1748, ^he iwight- 
when the Tvvightwees — as the Miamis were called by mSs.^ 
the English — committed themselves to an English ^^*^" 
alliance for the first time. This, as we shall see, effectually 
established the English traders on the Wabash, where they had 
had a precarious traffic since 1723. 

The packmen of Pennsylvania and Virginia now pushed 
boldly into the Ohio valley. Those from the Quaker ,^^^ p^^^. 
province had some advantage over their rivals in a route"t;othe 
better route, for, leaving Philadelphia, there was a ^^'''■ 
wagon road through Lancaster to Harris's Ferry (Harrisburg), 
and a bridle path thence to Will's Creek on the Potomac, from 
which the path was continued by an Indian trail to the forks of 
the Ohio (Pittsburgh). From this point there was another Indian 
path to the Miamis' towns. On the west branch of the Susque- 
hanna, from a point known as the Great Island, Indian paths 
ran also in different directions, and one crossed the mountains 
to the Alleghany. A late writer has said that, at many places 
in the mountains, these beaten tracks can still be seen. 

Note. The opposite maps on the succeeding pages are parts of Lewis Evans's Middle British 
Colonies as reissued in London by Jefferys in 1758, " with some improvements by I. Gibson." It 
shows the traders' routes north of the Ohio and the position of the Indian settlements. 



jL A K li 

T/u- Confederate 3',/^r/?i 




Erie. 







246 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

This treaty of 1748 was a substantial triumph for the Eng- 
The Wabash ^^^^i ^'^ this westem confederacy on the Wabasli had 
Indians. becu playing fast and loose with the French for many 
*years. They had granted land to them for the Vincennes 
colony in 1742, and the Piankashaw branch of the Miamis, who 
lived near that post, had generally kept on good terms with the 
French. The feelings of this tribal section of the confederacy 
were, however, an exception to the general aversion to the French, 
which was shared by the Miamis proper, the Eel River tribe, 
and the Weas. In 1744, it had looked as if the French had 
bound the whole league to a devastating war upon the English, 
upon the assurance which Beauharnois had given them that the 
English coidd not depend on the assistance of the Iroquois. 
When this project failed, it had seemed to Vaudreuil at New 
Orleans, who counted on the Miamis' country for a large part 
The French ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ suppKcs, that it was csscntial for the 
on the Ohio. J^rench to build a fort on the Wabash fifteen leagues 
from its mouth, if the English were to be kept away. There 
was some difference of opinion as to the best site for such a stock- 
ade. To some it seemed as if a point on the Ohio opposite the 
Cherokee (Tennessee) River was the better place, not only to 
thwart an English advance, but to hold back both the Chero- 
kees and Chickasaws, and preserve the navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi to the French. Others looked upon the neighborhood of 
the falls of the Ohio (Louisville), as being the more suitable 
spot. With a conviction that some such defense must be under- 
taken, Vaudreuil first wrote to the minister of the marine, No- 
vember 4, 1745, a;id often later during a year and more he was 
repeating the same warnings. He thought that such a fort for 
preserving the communications of Canada with the Mississippi 
could best be supplemented by a pact with the Shawnees, which 
would turn that tribe against the English. In this opinion 
The siiaw- ^^ ^^^ supportcd by the advocacy of Beauharnois on 
"*'**■ the part of Canada, who urged that the Shawnees 

should not only be alienated from the English, but that they 
should be domiciled about Detroit. The Shawnees, at this 
time, or some part of them at least, were in a measure inter- 
posed between the Senecas and Miamis, and they had tried 
to draw to the Ohio the lingering Delawares on the Susque- 
hanna. Bellin's map (1744) puts their main villages north of 




THE INDIAN PATHS IN OHIO. 
[From Andrews's New Map of the United States, London, 1783.] 



248 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

the Ohio and above the mouth of the Kanawha. Just after 
this, they began to move west into the Scioto country, and some 
of them pushed as far as the valley of the Wabash. Here they 
came more within the control of the French, and could be better 
played off against the English influence, which by this time was 
likely to be increased with the neighboring Miamis. 

Adair tells us that a Frenchman, Shartel, as he calls him, 
was the agent to carry the Shawnees finally over to the French, 
in the year before the Lancaster agreement of 1748. That 
chronicler adds that this negotiator was helped in the matter 
by " the supine conduct of the Pennsylvania government." 

The French had need of the Shawnee alliance. In 1745, 
Sandusky English traders were at Sandusky Bay erecting houses 
Bay. 1745. f^j^. \\^q\y goods, pcrhaps the first English structures in 
the present State of Ohio. Some Hurons had wandered thither 
the year before (1744) from the vicinity of Detroit, and were 
not averse to receiving the flatteries of the English. Not one 
of them was more disposed to the English than Nicholas, a 
chief among them. 

In June, 1747, some French who haj)pened to come into the 
neis'hborhood were killed. When the commander at Detroit 
heard of it, he demanded the murderers, and insisted that the 
English traders shoidd be driven away. It was the 
Nicholas. opportunity of Nicholas. He had of late been urging 
upon his neighbors, the Ottawas, to unite in a plot of 
his people, in which the Miamis should join, in order to attack 
Detroit and pillage its storehouses. The conspiracy grew, and 
all but the Illinois tribes were finally brought to promise assist- 
ance, when a squaw, overhearing the councils, revealed the 
scheme to a priest, and Longueil heard of it in the summer 
of 1747. The Hurons cabined about Detroit fled, and the plot 
lost impetus. There was a murder here and there, and Nicho- 
las seized Fort Miami at the confluence of the St. Joseph and 
St. Mary rivers. The pact was loosened, and the seventeen 
tribes which had conspired together began to fall ofl^. By Sep- 
tember (1747), reinforcements had reached Detroit from Mon- 
treal, and Nicholas lost heart. During the winter, the French 
rebuilt (February, 1748) the fort on the Miami, and ordered 
the English out of the valley. Shortly after, Nicholas disap- 
peared from Sandusky, and Conrad Weiser later learned at 



GEORGE CROGHAN. 249 

Logstown that a hundred fighting Hurons (Wyandots) were 
coming to put themselves imder English protection. By June, 
the members of the league were nearly all restored to the favor 
of the French. But the danger was not passed. In October 
(1748), the commandant at Detroit was again counseled to be 
wary and prevent the English getting a lodgment in the Ohio 
country. He was told to exert force if need be, though peace 
ostensibly existed. 

This hostile combination having failed, the Miamis alone 
threw themselves into the English interest, and the jj,g 
treaty of Lancaster (July, 1745), as already men- ^=^"'s- 
tioned, was brought about. The subsequent active disaffection 
of the Miamis, and the new intrusion of the English packmen, 
was the subject of Sieur Raymond's reports the following year 
(1749). The Pennsylvania and Virginia people were now 
founding their most advanced post (1748) at Picka- pjckawii- 
willany on the Big Miami, one hundred and fifty miles ^^^^' ^^*®" 
up the stream from the Ohio. It was estimated at this time 
that during a single season some three hundred English traders 
were leading their pack-horses and dragging their bateaux over 
the mountain passes into the Ohio valley. 

No man was so conspicuous among them as George Croghan. 
He was an Irishman, who had been for several years George 
trading along the shores of Lake Erie, learning the C''°g^=*°- 
Indian tongue and becoming acquainted with the geography of 
the region. The southern shore of Lake Erie was the 
last of any of the borders of the Great Lakes to come shore of 
to the knowledge of the map-makers. Bellin, who 
made Charlevoix's maps, knew nothing of it, nor was it compre- 
hended by Celoron, whose expedition we shall soon follow. 

When Conrad Weiser recommended the Pennsylvania gov- 
ernment to employ Croghan as an official almoner to the tribes 
of this lake-shore region, he was the best available man to coun- 
teract the French slyness in "speaking underground." An 
honest man, as Weiser termed him, Croghan recognized certain 
tricks in the French methods of trade, which he felt the Eng- 
lish might well learn to copy. He held the opinion that in this 
as in other intercourse with the savages, the French, better than 
the English, knew how to manage their peculiarities. Equally 
conspicuous with Croghan, if indeed not more so, from his con- 



250 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

stant employment as a public interpreter, was Croghan's spon- 
Conrad ^^^' Weiscr himseK. The government of Pennsyl- 
Weiser. yania in particular largely depended on him to gather 
tidings of what was going on among the Indians ; and his cor- 
respondence with Peters, the secretary of that province, shows 
how vigilant in this respect he was. No one knew better than 
he how the Six Nations held the balance of power, not only 
among the savages farther west, who waited their motions, but 
also in the counter movements of the French and English. 
When New York began to convert its temporary structure at 

Oswego into a stone fort, it was the French distrust 
as of the Iroquois which restrained the Canadians from 

attacking it. When the English sought to occupy 
Irondequoit Bay, it was an intimation from the confederates 
that Oswego and Niagara were near enough together for rivals, 
that made the New Yorkers desist. These mutual distrusts 
were no doubt complicated by the clandestine trade between 
Albany and the St. Lawrence, which neither party wished to 
put to a hazard. Peter Kalm, who had some experience with 
these sly hucksters on the Hudson, felt they were sharp enough 
The Albany ^^ ^"^'^ ^ '^^^^ ' ^^^^ Johu Reinliold Forster, his Eng- 
traders. Y\q\\ editor, would softcu the charge by thinking it 
arose from the ancient sympathy of the Swedes for the French. 
Despite this mutual wariness, Beauharnois succeeded in draw- 
ins; the confederates to a conference in the summer of 1745 ; 
but it did not prevent retaliatory raids, stirred up by Piquet 
on one side, and conducted by the Mohawks on the other. 

But the struggle was soon to be transferred to the Ohio. 
The Ohio The English made the first movement in 1748 south 
country. q£ ^.j^g^^. -^{^qy . the Frcuch followed the next year 

north of it. 

The projection of the Ohio Company in 1748 was in the in- 
terests of Virginia, whose traders hoi)ed by the facili- 

The Ohio .- ^ . , i-r»j^ ii. 

Company. tics of watcr Carriage between the 1 otomac and east- 
ern branches of the Ohio to attain an advantage over 
the Pennsylvanians.^ The movement was supported by the 
leaders of the tidewater gentry, and an application for a grant 
of five hundred thousand acres south of the Ohio, and between 
the Monongahela and the Kanawha, was made b}^ their London 
agent, John Hanbury. His petition was supported by the Board 



THOMAS CRESAP. 251 

of Trade on the ground that such a grant would consolidate 
trade for the English, and give them advantages over the French, 
— arguments that prevailed with them at this period, but were 
not much thought of when, twenty years later, these western 
settlements might, in the board's judgment, prove to be inde- 
pendent of the manufactures of the mother country. 

On May 19, 1749, a royal order awarded two hundred thou- 
sand acres of those asked for, with a ten years' freedom from 
rent, on condition that a hundred families were settled upon 
them within seven years, and a fort built and maintained. This 
complied with, the full grant of half a million acres would be 
made. Accordingly, the orders were delivered to Governor 
Nelson on July 12, 1749. 

Some years before this, in 1742-43, a vagrant Yorkshireman, 
Colonel Thomas Cresap, then near forty years old, had Thomas 
built " a hunting and trading cabin " near the upper- ^'''''^^p- 
most fork of the Potomac; — the earliest permanent settler in 
western Maryland. His abode was near an old Shawnee town, 
and its position is shown in Mitchell's map (1755). Previous 
to this he had lived on the Pennsylvania" side of the line, and 
Evans in his map indicates the spot. Cresap was a man not 
unsuited to the rough and boisterous phases of a frontier life, 
and had joined in the somewhat hazardous border difficulties 
between these provinces so conspicuously that he had become 
well known, and was turned to in any troublesome venture. 
He was therefore just the man for the company to employ to 
open a way to their new domain, and it was through his rude 
surveying efforts that a track was run across the divide and 
into the company's grant, pretty much in the same direction 
as later developed in Braddock's road. 

The company had relied in part upon the Pennsylvania 
Germans to make up the quota of a hundred families. The 
proprietors, however, held to their ancient ways, and fastened 
Episcopal tithes upon the soil. The Germans loathed such a 
vassalage and held back. It seemed then, for the present at 
least, that the scheme was to fail. It had certainly jj^g French, 
gone far enough to arouse the French, who saw in it owo*^* 
a new assertion of the old doctrine of the sea-to-sea c°™P^"y- 
charters, and Dumas in a Memoire expressed the government's 
anxiety : " Every man of sense who is conversant with the 



252 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

manner in which war can be carried on in that country will 
agree with me that all the resources of the state will never pre- 
serve Canada, if the English are once settled at the heads of 
these western rivers." 

No one saw tliis better than Galissonniere, and he determined 

on a movement to the Ohio. His purpose was soon 

niere and divincd at Albany, and Johnson sent messengers to 

expedition, the tribes along that river warning them of a French 

1749 • • 

inroad. Clinton, in June, 1749, sent word to the gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania that some New Engianders, coming from 
Canada, reported a force of a thousand men preparing to go to 
the Ohio. Croghan was at once instructed to send out scouts 
to discover the truth. The fact was that on June 15, 1749, 
Bienville de Celoron had left Montreal, under instructions 
from Galissonniere, to traverse the Ohio region, take formal 
possession at points, discover the temper of the natives, and 
drive off the English traders. Joncaire, the son of 
a French officer by a Seneca mother, who was to the 
French what William Johnson was to the English, — the best 
man they had to guide the Indian will, — was put in the van. As 
one of the incised plates, recording the French occupation, and 
intended for burial along the route, fell into Johnson's hands, 
he was possessed very soon of the object of the expedition : and 
it has been surmised, and was believed by Johnson, that this 
plate was stolen from Joncaire while among the Senecas. 

Celoron did not have anything like the force which the New 
c^ioron's England men had reported, for beside his officers he 
route. j^jj^jj Qj^jy. ^^gj^^y f pgj^pjj soldiers, a hundred and more 

voyageurs, and thirty Indians, Iroquois and Abenakis. The 
party turned in from Lake Erie at the portage which rises a 
thousand feet in eight miles to Lake Chautauqua. This was 
the most difficult of all the Erie portages, and was found so 
wearisome that it was usually neglected for that of Presqu' Isle, 
by the modern city of Erie. At the end of July, the expedition 
was fairly embarked on the Alleghany, and passed down the 
Ohio. What Celoron in his itinerary calls " the finest ])lace on 
the river " was a Delaware village, probably at the forks of the 
Ohio, where the historic Fort Duquesne later stood. At Logs- 
town, somewhat farther down the main stream, Celoron had an 
interview with the Indians, and told them that they might make 



CELORON. 253 

the most of this year's hunting, in order to pay their English 
debts, for it was the last year the English would be allowed on 
the river, — a speech received with contempt according to the 
English report. 

The French commander says he was struck with the way in 

tJ-^ r b b ►^ ti 

hn ^ > m rt J > 
W^ O > i 2 - 

^ 2 > i < ^ 22; ^ -.^ h t-^ S --S J: M ^ "^ 




E^si!ssi|^,|i:,?pi, 



^ :^ i 5 <.^ ^ f' "^ S 

vj- > ?:^ rl '^^^rj n cr> hj 2 



z: 




tri ?^;oi 






which the savages were mixed in their villages, — Iroquois, 
Shawnees, Loups, Delawares, Miamis being often domiciled 
together ; and all, as he was troubled to find, much gngiigh 
more inclined to the English than to his own people. *'^*'^®"- 
He found traces of English packmen everywhere. Some of 
them had entered the valley, as he found, by the Kanawha, 



254 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

which was mainly the route for the Carolina traders. He 
makes the usual observation that the cheapness of the English 
goods made the greater attraction of their traffickers, and he 
intimates a belief that they purposely sold at a loss, in order 
to gain the Indians' allegiance, while the English government 
made good the deficiency. 

Here and there, generally at river mouths, Celoron buried his 
His buried incised platcs. Their inscriptions were much the 
plates. same : " We have placed this plate here as a memo- 

rial of the establishment of our power in the territory which 
is claimed by us on the river Ohio and throughout its tribu- 
taries to their sources, and confirmed to us by the treaties of 
Eyswick, Utrecht, and Aix-la-Chapelle." One or two of these 
plates have since been unearthed: That which was buried near 
the mouth of the Muskingum was found by some boys in the 
early years of this century. It was protruding from a bank 
which had been washed by the current. The youngsters melted 
a part of it to make bullets, and the remaining fragment is now 
preserved in the collection of the American Antiquarian Soci- 
ety at Worcester, Massachusetts. Another was discovered near 
the mouth of the Kanawha in 1846. 

In August, as Celoron tells us, the party met a band of six 
English, who had fifty horses and one hundred and 
traders fifty bales of fur. They were returning from a suc- 
cessful trafficking tour, and were bound for Philadel- 
phia. The French leader warned them, in writing, to withdraw 
from the valley and not to return. They replied, either " through 
fear or otherwise," that they would not come back. He sent 
by them, writing the letter among the Shawnees, August 16, 
a message to Governor Harrison, asking him to prohibit such 
trespasses in the future, as the French would be compelled to 
expel them by force if necessary, should they encounter them. 
He had soon an occasion to dispatch a like missive to the gov- 
ernor of Carolina by some traders from that province. 

Burying his last plate at the mouth of the Great Miami (Ri- 
viere a la Roche), Celoron turned up that stream at the end of 
August. Here, as elsewhere, he found that the Indians kept 
aloof, and the Miamis even rejected his offer of powder and ball. 
There were English traders close by, but being warned, they 
kept out of sight. By September 20 the French had ascended 



CELORON. 255 

the river so far that there was no longer sufficient water for 
the canoes. They accordingly burned them, with all else that 
was too burdensome for a land journey, and, procuring horses 
from the Indians, struck across the country one hundred and 
twenty-five miles to the Maumee, reaching it on September 25. 
Here Celoron found a French fort, with a small garrison com- 
manded by Raymond. 

Fortunately we are aided all along Celoron's route by docu- 
ments, pointing out landmarks. The leader's journal c^ioron's 
is preserved in the Archives of the Marine at Paris, ^oyue-^"** 
and has been printed by Margry. It was first brought ^'^■^ps'smap. 
to the notice of American students in an essay, with an ab- 
stract, by the late O. H. Marshall of Buffalo, and is now in- 
cluded in his Historical Writings. A fuller translation has 
been printed in the Catholic Historical Researches, 1885-86. 
Father Bonnecamps, a Jesuit, was a professor of mathematics 
and hydrography at the College of Quebec, and accompanied the 
expedition. He made a map and kept a journal, also preserved 
in the Marine, and first brought to our attention by Marshall. 
These three documents make an all-sufficient account of what 
was done. 

The remainder of Celoron's journey has little to interest us. 
He kept in the van with his Frenchmen, and reached Detroit 
on October 6, and there waited for his Indians to come up. 
On November 9, he was again in Montreal, having lost on 
the way but a single man, who was drowned. 

Hendrick the Mohawk soon learned from the St. Lawrence 
settlements enough to make him believe that the ex- 
pedition was looked upon as a failure, and so he tionafau- 
reported to Colonel Johnson. Celoron himself does 
not disguise his disappointment : " All I need say is that these 
Indian nations are not kindly disposed to the French, and are 
wholly friends of the English," and he believed the secret of 
it lay in their better inducements for trade. He had seen it 
conspicuously on the Big Miami at the mouth of Loraine Creek, 
where the new English post of Pickawillany stood. It was 
much the same everywhere, as he believed, along the twelve 
hundred leagues of his travel, — much the same among the 
Delawares on the Muskingum, among the Shawnees on the 
Scioto, and among the Wyandots on the Sandusky. 



256 



THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 



The news of the failure spread rapidly among the English, 
and in October Governor Harrison was assured of it by ru- 
mors from over the mountains, and commu- 
nicated them to Clinton of New York. Scouts 
which the Pennsylvania governor sent along 
the Frenclunan's track made the same report. 

Galissonniere, who had hoped so much from 
the undertaking, was no lonaer in 

Galisson- " 

nierere- Qucbcc to fcel the discouragemeut. 
tembe'r, He had bccn summoned home to 

1749. 

take part in the diplomatic confer- 
ences, and left Quebec in September, 1749. 
He had felt from the first that there was little 
chance of averting a protracted war with the 
English. It had, indeed, only been delayed 
by the peace of 1748, as already signified 
in the preceding chapter. He was succeeded 

by Admiral Jonquiere, who had had 

Jonquiere , , . 

succeeds. rather rough experiences in reaching 
his post. He had been in D'An- 
ville's fleet, which the storms had scattered so 
fortunately for the Bostonians. He was again 
at sea bound for Quebec in 1747, when he 
was captured by the English. Liberated 
by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, he had at last 
succeeded, in August, 1749, In reaching his 
government, and it was to him that Celoron 
now made his report. 



But while English influence was found by 

Celoron to be everywhere active along the 

Ohio, there was one of the approaches to the 

Ohio valley where English pioneers were pro- 
voking discontent. This was in the 
valley of the Juniata, which the Iro- 
quois had reserved as a hunting- 
for their dependents. The Senecas 

objected to the squatters, who were marking 

their " tomahawk claims " well up the valley and even over 

the passes. " The Indians," wrote Conrad Weiser, who never 



The 

Juniata 
valley. 

ground 





Xaaazjuissg 




CfiLORON'S MARCH. 

[Taken from King's Ohio."] 



258 THE PORTALS OF THE OHIO VALLEY. 

failed in honest convictions as to tlie Indian rights, " are very 
uneasy about the white people settling beyond the Endless 
Mountains on the Juniata, on Sherman's Creek, etc. They tell 
me that above thirty families are settled upon Indian lands this 
spring" (1749). 

The Moravians under Zinzendorf, who had left Georgia on 
the breaking out of the Spanish war, had come into 
Pennsylvania some years before this, and set up their 
tabernacle at Bethlehem. Thence they were sending their mis- 
sionaries towards the Wyoming country, — the first whites seen 
in that region, — and feeling their way even over the mountains, 
nearer the New York line. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

1743-1757. 

It was in 1743 that Bienville, now a man of sixty-two, wearied 
with buffeting events and enemies, and not well satis- Bienviiie 
fied with all that fortune had bestowed upon him, bTvau-*"^ 
resigned his command in Louisiana. In May, he was '^'"®"''' ^^^^" 
succeeded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil. The province then 
contained, it was reckoned, about six thousand inhabitants not 
of native stock, — two thirds of these were French, the rest 
mainly negroes. There was some political corruption in the 
government, and New Orleans was far from having ^^^ 
become the place which Bienville had figured in his ^■'^^^°^- 
dreams. Still, there was a growing air of briskness about it, 
and its commerce outward to Europe and the West Indies, and 
within toward the Indian country and up the river, was begin- 
ning to be considerable. The territory immediately dependent 
on the lower Mississippi hardly afforded as yet adequate sup- 
plies of food, and Vaudreuil notified his home government, in 
1744, that if an importation of flour had not arrived, he could 
not have controlled his famished garrison. The fact was that, 
for a while, Louisiana existed only because the Illinois country 
could send down the necessary food. 

There were at this time two thousand, possibly nearer three 
thousand, whites in the Illinois settlements of Kaskas- ^he iiunois 
kia, St. Philippe, Cahokia, and Prairie du Rocher. Life <=°'°°y- 
in these communities was certainly picturesque, and the poetic 
temperament might consider it Arcadian. It was to a certain 
extent contented, for ignorance and self-indulgence are not wholly 
hostile to a life of complacency. They got a sufficient support 
from the soil, and cared very little for the mines which had 



260 LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

earlier attracted attention. We see in their church registers 
how they were baptized and married, and the Jesuit mission 
gave them something to which they could cling. They had, to 
share their labor, a number of horses secured from a Spanish 
stock which had been passed beyond New Mexico from tribe to 
tribe. Traders came and went among them, and gave their 
women the opportunity to buy the gewgaws which both pleased 
them and doubtless lightened the burdens of life. The men 
built barges. Filled with flour and pork, one could see, in the 
proper season, no inconsiderable flotillas push out into the 
stream, perhaps uniting from the different settlements in one 
compact body. They carried life and merriment as 
with New they started down to New Orleans. Such a combin- 
ing of boats was far more necessary than mere com- 
panionship required, for they sometimes encountered predatory 
bands of savages along the lower country. Starting in Decem- 
ber, as was usual, their lading was disposed of by February. 
The adventurers then filled their bateaux with cotton, rice, 
sugar, and tobacco, and entered upon the tedious ascent. 
Carrying ropes ahead to be tied to trees on the bank, and 
pulling their boats against the current by relay after relay, 
and sometimes poling in the shallows, they made the wearisome 
homeward voyage. 

Vaudreuil, at New Orleans, had begun with somewhat lordly 
The social social aims. He wished the official circle which sur- 
Hff (ff'New^ rounded him to have some of the splendors and pleas- 
Orieans. ^^.gg q£ ^ little court. He did not see as weU as others 
saw the rather incongruous exhibition which the manners of 
Paris made in the swampy little town. The commerce of the 
place enlivened the humble life, and an occasional arrival of 
"casket girls" stirred the domestic passions. With it all, 
Vaudreuil had his share of anxieties. There was always the 
fear of the interruption of his supplies from the up-country ; if 
not by Indian interference, it might come from the inevitable, 
ubiquitous English. To maintain his communications with 
Canada by the portages of the St. Lawrence valley was an in- 
cessant solicitude. At one time, while Berthelot was command- 

NoTE. The opposite map is from The Middle States, by James Russell, which appeared iu Win- 
terbotham's America, and shows the portages. 



262 



LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 



ing on tlie Illinois, 
that officer was 
wholly cut off from 
tidings from New 
Orleans. Ignorant 
of political condi- 
tions and reduced 
in stores, Berthelot 
had been forced to 
draw in his little 
force and concen- 
trate it at Kaskas- 
kia. 

The Indian na- 
Native tives through- 
tribes. ^^^ ^^ prov- 
ince were a con- 
stant perplexity. 
The tribes of t\\€ 
Illinois, which, at 
the time of the 
treaty of Utrecht, 
had been steadfastly 
French in sympathy 
and a foil to the 
Foxes, always 

Foxes, ' I 

Sioux, the foe of the 

Sauks. 

French, had 
of late years been 
moving south and 
east. They were 
even opening trade 
with the English, 
and welcoming the 
Carolinian packmen 
coming by the Cher- 
okee River. This 
rendered the upper 

Note. The annexed map is 
from James Adair's Ilistory of 
the American Indians, Lon- 
don, 1775, showing the posi- 
tions of tlie iribos. 





AMERrCAVrKDIANNATTONS , 



264 LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

commimlcations by the river all the more insecure, and threat- 
ened the access to Detroit. 

Farther north there was still danger from the Sioux. They 
had forced the evacuation of the fort on Lake Pepin. They 
were constantly threatening to make concerted action with the 
Foxes. This ferocious little band always stood ready to join 
the Sioux if forced to flee their country. They were eqiially 
ready to give themselves over to the Iroquois. Since they had 
dwindled so much in numbers, what was left of them maintained 
a rather fitful amalgamation with the Sauks. In 1746, their 
levying of toll upon the traders who took the portage from 
Green Bay became so onerous a tax upon this body that the 
traders united under a leader named Morand and attacked the 
Foxes. Their onset was so furious that the Indians abandoned 
the country and settled on the Wisconsin, about twenty miles 
from its mouth, only to be further attacked and pursued. The 
fear after this that they woidd make common cause with the 
Sioux was a source of continual anxiety to the French. 

These proceedings had done something to make Green Bay 
attractive for settlers, and the Langlades, who were at 

The Lang- , . . , ,. « itt. 

lades at tliis poiut the earlicst occupants of W isconsin son, 

Greeu Bay. iti i i i mi 

soon gathered a little colony about them. Ihe father, 
Augustine, had come there from Mackinac, where he had been 
a trader, and his son Charles, now a youth of twenty-two, more 
than half Indian in spirit, and quite half in l)lood, was prepai-ing 
for a career which made him conspicuous in the great struggle 
at a later day. 

Even on Lake Superior the insidious English had inspirited 

the Chippeways (O jib ways) against the French, and 
on Lake' tlius froui bcyond the remotest portage of the Great 

Valley there came reports to disquiet the governor in 
his southern capital. 

The most perplexing rumors were from south of the Ohio, 

where the Choctaws and Chickasaws were diligently 

Choctaws, i/v> • 1 1 1 1 • ^ 1 • 

Chickaaaws, plaved oft agfamst each other by the rival whites. 

Creeks. i .J o •' ^ 

Adair tells us that the French at Tumbikpe (Tombig- 
bee) were the instigators of the Choctaw irrujitions. This tribe 
made the most extortionate demands for gifts as the price of 
immunity from their hostility. The same writer says the French 
were penurious as compared with the English in bestowing such 



THE CHOCTAWS. 



265 



gratuities. The English were at intervals successful in sowing 
dissensions among the Choctaws, and then it would happen that 
for a while some portions of that tribe would espouse the Eng- 
lish interests, and even make hostile demonstration against 
those who adhered to the French, This at one period went so 
far that there was apprehension at New Orleans that an Angio- 
Choctaw invasion was in store for them. 



2^5 



J c^A-n^-to/iy . 



•x^S 



.JHZuUU^r mtanr 



^^^^, 



' ^ranj^if 










tnee/riin<;oilt 




Mi^t- 



3^S 



jtic^v 



'3.^ it 



DUMONT'S MAP OF THE CHICKASAW AND CHOCTAW COUNTRY. 



266 LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

Adair had opened trade with the Chickasaws in 1744, and at 
this time he encountered French emissaries seeking to arouse 
them against the English, on the plea that the Carolinians would 
overrun their country in their progress toward the Mississippi. 

The Chickasaws and Creeks were usually proof against French 
persuasions, and we find them making raids upon the French 
villages wherever exposed beyond support. In retaliation, such 
Indians as the French could control were sent to storm the 
traders' houses among those tribes and make off with the plun- 
der. Adair speaks of conducting a party of Chickasaws to 
Charleston, on one occasion, to keep alive their sympathy for 
the English. 

The French never succeeded in getting a successful hold upon 
cherokees ^^^ Chcrokces, mucli less upon the Catawbas, who were 
Catawbas. niorc Completely within the influence of the Carolini- 
ans and Virginians. A clearly defined trading-path ran south 
from Petersburg in Virginia and, crossing the Roanoke, extended 
well into the circle of Cherokee and Catawba villages. After 
Fort Augusta was built in 1740, the Cherokees began to mark 
out bridle paths toward it from their villages, and the trade in 
deerskins flourished. 

The Catawbas, more than the Cherokees, were a constant 
source of uneasiness to the English, not from any fear of French 
intrigue, but from the inveterate enmity of this tribe for the 
northern allies of the English, the equally irrepressible Iroquois. 
Conrad Weiser, who could compare the singularly well-balanced 
checks of the New York confederates in their tribal councils, 
sj^caks of the Catawbas as " an irregular people, with no coun- 
cil, — the richest and greatest among them calling himself 
king." The English endeavors to bring these allies, north and 
south, into friendly union and to calm their mutual passions 
were met by accusation, the one upon the other. The 

Hostilities p tt- • • i r 

with the valley ot Virgmia, long after a certain permanence 

Iroquois. "^ 1 (. • • 

was secured for its settlements, was disturbed by the 
passing of their warring parties, bent on mischief. Washing- 
ton, when he was surveying for Lord Fairfax" along the lower 
parts of the Shenandoah, tells us that he sometimes encountered 
these devastating hordes. 

NoTB. The map on the opposite page is from Sayer and Jefferys' reproduction of Danville's 
North A merica (London), showing the positions of the southern Indians. 



268 LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

By the middle of the century (1750) the French in Louisi- 
Districts of ^^^ were well intrenched outside New Orleans, in at 
Louisiana, igast eight districts. Not far from the capital they 
had a post and settlement at Point Coupee on the Mississippi, 
below the Red River. They maintained a post at Natchi- 
toches toward the Spanish frontier in Nevv Mexico. They had 
another at Natchez, and still another near the mouth of the 
Arkansas. There were also settlements dependent on Fort 
niinois Chartres in the Illinois country, the best compacted 
country. q£ g^jj ^j^g occupicd rcgions, numbering at this time, as 
was computed, eleven hundred whites, three hundred negroes, 
and about sixty Indian bondmen. This estimate did not in- 
clude those settlements above Peoria accounted a part of 
Canada, nor those settlers on the Wabash similarly classed. 
Beside three native villages near Fort Chartres, with about 
three hundred warriors, — for the Illinois tribes had been re- 
duced by migrations, — there were, not far away, five distinct 
French communities : that at Kahokia, below the modern St. 
Louis ; one at St. Philippe, above Fort Chartres ; the parent 
village at Kaskaskia ; and another gathering at Prairie du Ro- 
cher. Still another, but west of the Mississippi, was that at 
Ste. Genevieve. A new commander was soon to appear at the 
fort, Macarty by name ; and with him was to come Saussier, an 
engineer, prepared to strengthen the ramparts of Fort Chartres 
in the near future, the last hold of the French in the Great 
Valley. 

Besides these centres there were garrisons at Mobile, at 
Tombeckbe (Tombigbee), and at Alibamons on the 

Vurions 

garrisons, Alabama. In this enumeration no reference has been 

Mobile, etc. , i i • c, • 

made to more or less temporary and smiting groups 
of shanties, which the traders had scattered near the centres of 
the Indian population. 

Vaudreuil counted on the influence which the post at Tom- 
beckbe among the Choctaws would have in keeping that tribe 
active in the French interest against the Chickasaws and the 
English. In this way he hoped to preserve the communications 
of Mobile with the regions dependent on it. From the Tom- 
beckbe mixed parties of the French and Choctaws could go by 
canoe within seven or eight leagues of the Chickasaws. There 
were also trails practicable for light guns toward the region 







LE PAGE DU PRATZ'S MAP, 1757. 




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as 



CAROLINA. 271 

frequented by tlie Carolinians. Nevertheless, a French and 
Indian invasion of the Atlantic slope beyond the Carolina fron- 
tier was hardly yet thought of. It followed a year or two later, 
in 1753, when the English and Irish — for large numbers of 
Ulstermen had been settling in Carolina — were pressing the 
Chickasaws upon the French. 

The community at New Orleans was indebted to the Jesuits 

for the first introduction (1751) of the sugar cane 

products of from San Domingo^ though it was to be a dozen years 

Louisiana. i p i i • • • i ^ c 

or more berore the cultivation increased enough tor 
exportation. The growth of tobacco and rice was fostered, and 
cotton was becoming a productive crop, owing to a rude kind 
of gin of native origin, used in separating the seeds. 

In February, 1753, Kerlerec, a naval officer, succeeded 
Kerierec Vaudrcuil as govcmor. His policy soon manifested 
vaudreuii. itsclf. He rcduccd expenses by cutting down the 
^''^^' armed service, and made up for it by paying court to 

the Choctaws, to induce them to fight his battles. 

The Carolinians were improving their position. In a treaty 
at Albany,^ in 1751, the differences which their im- 
mediate neighbors, the Catawbas, had had with the 
Iroquois were composed. This allied tribe was thus freed 
for service with the English. The governor of Carolina now 
pushed his jurisdiction quite up to the mountains, and bargained 
with the native owners for land between the Savannah and 
Wateree rivers. This carried the English settlers well up to 
the sources of the Congaree, which ran midway between the 
bounding rivers. The governor of North Carolina was not to 
extend his government for some years yet beyond the Catawba 
River and the mountains north of it. But he was urging upon 
the Lords of Trade the seizure of the Alleghany gaps as the 
only measure to prevent further invasion by the French (1754). 
The commissioners of this province, with Peter Randolph and 
William Byrd, sent by Virginia, had, in February, 1756, 

Note. The map on the two following pages is from the London M/rgnzine, Feb. ITGO. It was 
engraved by T. Kitchin "from an Indian draught." The river called the " MLssissipi " is 
really the Ohio,and its two affluents are the Tennessee (" a branch of the Mississipi ") and the 
Cumberland (" Cherokees or Hogoliegee R."). It illustrates an account of Gov. Littleton's expe- 
ditiou brought " by the last ship from South Carolina." 




4^utaui4i<*C4 



!Ki» Cel. J\r/i>Av/ /i/rey/t' /// / "- / (!', lY/rTf t/wnr jra-f 
/r/ii'r/i f/ie jErciwA Jit*ti/,f ^Jo;/// t-^*/fir'^''jroin- 



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ClIEROKEii:NATI( 



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V/mm attjHJiaH-jfiwiniAt, ^ T,2CileruH,^ 



274 LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

brought tlie Cherokees and Catawbas into new treaty relations, 
Fort Lou- ^^^ ^s ^ result Fort Loudoun was built at the junc- 
doun. 1756. ^-^j-^ q£ ^-^q TelHco and Tennessee rivers. In June, a 
force from Virginia was marching to erect a stockade and to 
take the earliest military possession for the English of what is 
now the State of Tennessee. As this fort would relieve the 
Cherokees from maintaining a force at home to hold the French 
in check, these Indians had agreed to furnish five hundred war- 
riors to aid the English in the war, which we shall later see 
was now raging at the north. Thus the new fort was thought 
to be able to counteract any French attempt upon the constancy 
of the Cherokees. In fact, it gave the English a strong iij- 
trenchment, one hundred and fifty miles beyond their most 
advanced settlement. It was not long before Dinwiddle was 
complaining that the Indians had not furnished their promised 
quota. The war had already been begun in Virginia. As a 
result, at the extreme east the treacherous Acadiaus, 
rebelling at an enforced subjection, and having been 
the first at Chiegnecto to shed blood, had at last been forcibly 
ejected from their country. The English had borne for ten 
years the risks of the ill-concealed enmity of this priest-ridden 
people. As early as 1746, Knowles, the governor of Louis- 
bourg, had foreseen the inevitable necessity of some drastic 
measure to subdue their treachery. The French Neutrals — 
as these Acadians were called — had now, since 1755, been 
deported and scattered along the Atlantic coast of the English 
colonies. While some who were landed at southern ports had 
tried to work their way inland to the French flag at Duquesne, 
others had coasted back to the north in hopes to reach their 
old homes. Still others had sought the cover of the old banner 
at New Orleans, and, settling along the Mississippi above that 
town, had established their new villages on what is known to 
this day as the Acadian coast. 

Conrad Weiser, in 1755, was reporting from the Chickasaws 
The French that the Frcuch were generally hated by the southern 
southern tribcs, and the Chickasaws knew enough of the French 
*"''^^' and Choctaw hostility to make their testimony em- 

phatic ; but it was always too much to expect constancy of any 
Indian, and the Creeks were at intervals won over to the Choc- 



THE CHEROKEES. 



215 



taws' side and against the English. Pownall at this day 
(1756) pictures the Creeks as debauched by the enemy and 
alienated beyond recovery, and in 1757 Colonel Bouquet was put 
in command of some two thousand hastily armed militia to de- 




THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. 
[From a Carte de la Louisiane, etc., Covens et Mortier, 1758.] 

fend the frontiers. In July we find him, from his headquarters 
at Charleston, urging the commander at Fort Loudoun to send 
Indian scouts toward the French settlements, and in August he 
reports that one of his own scouts had brought in word that the 



276 LOUISIANA AND ITS INDIANS. 

French were building a new fort on the Ohio. Similar intelli- 
gence reached Fort Cumberland at the same time, where the 
Cherokee contingent sent to help the English was quartered. 
Hearing also that the French had succeeded in turning the Ca- 
tawbas against their tribe, and fearing for their villages, these 
Cherokees stampeded for their own country. The possibilities 
The English ^^ ^^ iutcr-tribal struggle between these old allies of 
anxious. ^j^g English caused much trepidation, and Governor 
Lyttleton of Carolina was preparing for the worst. It was not 
impossible that while the Choctaws and Catawbas ravaged his 
frontiers, the enemy might send from Hispaniola a naval force 
to attack Charleston by sea. 

But we need to see how the war had already begun and was 
progressing in the north. While the French were centring 
their resources on the upper Ohio, Kerlerec, in 1757, tells us 
that he had not had any communication with France for two 
years ; and Louisiana was hardly of immediate interest to 
France during the remaining years of the war. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

UNDECLARED WAR. 

1750-1754. 

The expedition of Celovon had been a distinct enunciation of 
the French purpose to maintain — war or no war — 
their hold upon the Ohio valley. The burying of expedition. 
plates at the mouths of the tributaries of the river 
had evipced a claim to the side valleys as well as the main 
stream, as indeed the inscriptions on the plates asserted. The 
English were no longer in doubt of this purpose after they 
had secured one of the plates, which was obtained " by some 
artifice." Johnson, as we have seen, notified the Ohio tribes 
of this French movement, and his own Indians promised to send 
a belt " through all the nations as far as the Ohio Kiver, that 
they may immediately know the vile designs of the French." 
We have seen how the English interests profited, and the 
French prospects waned, as the result or this warning. 

It has been said that in the previous year the Ohio Company 
had received their grant. Now, while Celoron was on 
his march, the Virginia council, on July 12, 1749, an- veysmade 
thorized the L/oyal Company to survey their eight hun- country. 
dred thousand acres, preparatory to seating families 
in these western parts. The bounds were to be north of the 
Fry and Jefferson line, and Dr. Thomas Walker, whom we have 
already encountered on an earlier exploration, was sent with a 
squad of surveyors to define the metes. In March, 1750, he 
passed into the Shenandoah valley. Crossing the site of the 
modern Staunton, he went over the AUeghanies, and striking- 
New River, followed it to Walker's Creek, now so- walker's 
called. Taking this stream on his way, he next crossed «^p'^'^'''°°- 
to the head of Clinch River and entered Cumberland Gap. The 
region which he now entered was hardly yet alive with the 



278 



UNDECLARED WAR. 



First house 
in Ken- 
tucky. 



variegated blooms of the full 
spring, but its stately trees 
and blue-grass meadows, the 
haunts of the buffalo and the 
deer, were already basking in 
the promise of the new year. 
The wandering pioneers fol- 
lowed up the Cumberland 
River, and finding a Spot to 
their liking, they cleared the 
ground and built a house, fin- 
ishing it on April 25. This 
was in all likelihood the ear- 
liest structure for 
man's use in what 
is now Kentucky, 
though it is possible that the 
French may have earlier erect- 
ed a cabin opposite the luouth 
of the Scioto. Walker's 
journal of this expedition re- 
mained in manuscript till 
1888, when it was printed at 
Boston under the editing of 
William Cabell Rives. This 
settlement long remained a 
solitary post, and is found laid 
down in the maps shortly after 
it was occupied. 

The traders' routes in the 
Traders' Ohio vallcy, at this 
ou:i^^' time or shortly 
*'^" after, were farther 

north. A wagon road from 
Philadelphia reached the 
upper Potomac at Watkins's 
Ferry, and a trail proceeded 
thence to one of the tributary 



A. Curry tuck Inlet, the Place 
'where the Line begins. 

B. Christiana Fcrt, now do- 
eerted. 

C. Petet Fontaine's Clnpbcord- 
CastJe. 

P. The Falls of Appninattox 
River, where are three little 
Towns, viz. : Petersburg Corn 
Market -b, Blandford h, and 
Wiltontown b. 



Z. The End of the Country Li; 
which at several times 1 
been run ii34 miles from 
rj'tuck Inlet, and is to be 
tmued. Course, due West. 




"pD'Hr f- 




[After a sketch in a letter of Peter Fontaine, 
July 9, 175li, given in The Memoirs of a Hu- 
guenot Family, p. 35G.] 



valleys of the Ohio, beyond the divide. The Ohio Company 



BOUNDARY DISPUTES. 279 

opened in 1753 a trail from Will's Creek on the Potomac, 
where its factor had established a storehouse in 1749. This 
path — later to be made a wagon road by Washington — 
passed the head of the south branch of the Potomac, and 
descended on the other side of the gap' to the forks of the 
Youghiogheny, and so on to the mouth of the Monongahela. 
These routes took the passers away from the haunts of the 
French till they struck the Ohio itself. It was not so with the 
trails still farther north, which, after passing the mountains, 
came to the Alleghany or one of its eastern branches, where the 
English packmen were likely to fall in with the French coming 
from Lake Erie or the Seneca country. 

The objective point of all these routes, English and French, 
was the forks of the Ohio, where the Alleghany and rp,,^ ^^^^^ ^^ 
Monongahela met. The site of the modern Pitts- "«^o'"°- 
burgh, occupied at this time by an Indian village of twenty 
wigwams, with fifty or more people living there, was thus a 
position vital to whomsoever possessed the Ohio valley, and the 
predestined scene of an obstinate but wavering conflict. 

The conditions of this coming struggle were in geographical 
connections favorable to the English ; but not so in Boundary 
all other respects. An unfortunate dispute between vh^"*^a,°^ 
Virginia and Pennsylvania as to their bounds did anTpeim- 
much to dispirit settlers and sow dissensions among *^yi^'''''"a- 
them. Pennsylvania claimed that the charter given to Penn 
carried her limits beyond the forks, much as the modern State 
is bounded, though a longitudinal five degrees west of the Dela- 
ware River was not easily computed in view of the crooked 
course of that river. But Virginia, then and long afterward 
grasping in her territorial claims, denied it. She pressed a 
vague demand to an indefinite northwestern extension, which 
stretched her newly created county of Augusta to the Missis- 
sipj^i and even beyond, " up into the land throughout west and 
northwest." She was quite ready to call all settlers inhabiting 
this bountifid domain and up to 40° north latitude her loyal 
people. By another claim, Virginia was equally at variance 
with Maryland, and she would restrict both that province and 
Pennsylvania by a meridian which cut the source of the Poto- 
mac. Since this river had two upper branches, meridian lines 
cutting the springs of each gave a considerable triangle of 



280 UNDECLARED WAR. 

intermediate territory, which the rival provinces disputed about, 
each naturally standing by that meridian which increased its 
own limits of jurisdiction. 

All such disputes embarrass settlements, and the comitry 
toward the forks of the Ohio had not failed to suffer from tJiis 
cause. In time it became further apparent that it was the in- 
terest of leading Virginians to give a personal advocacy to the 
claim of their pro\ance because it improved the rights of the 
Ohio Company, and Pennsylvanians thought that something of 
the undue precipitancy of Virginia in pressing her demands 
even t'o the verge of actual war betokened such selfish and indi- 
vidual interests. So matters of this kind served to alienate 
these neighboring provinces from a common object, while their 
rivals, the French, in their movements toward the Ohio, were 
certain to act with a single purpose. The other colonies saw 
this, and Governor Glen of South Carolina had not hesitated 
to offer a warning rebuke. 

Pennsylvania, in her contest with the French, had an active 
„ o'uardian of her interests in George Croghan," whose 

George & o o ' 

ami p'eun- scrviccs iu behalf of the province were long and duti- 
syivania. f^^j jjg claimed at a later day that he had never 
asked from the province any remuneration for his time, in all 
that he did to keep the Indians fast to the English policy, be- 
yond being recompensed for the hire of horses used in running 
Colonel wii- cxprcsscs. Croghau and Colonel William Trent were 
liam Trent, brothers-in-kw, and had recently formed a partnership 
in the fur trade. They clearly saw that the protection of that 
trade required the English to fortify themselves at the forks of 
the Ohio.' To this end they gained the consent of the Indians, 
and asked the Pennsylvania Assembly to order a stockade built 
there. The project, though backed by the Proprietary, failed 
of support in that Quaker body, and nothing was done, though 
the assembly had organized two counties in this western region 
which had claims to be defended, — York County, organized in 
the southwestern part of the province in 1749 ; and Cumberland 
County, taking all lands within her bounds west and north of 
York County and west of the Susquehanna, which had just 
been set up (1750). 

Note. The oppo.site map is from Mitchell's Map of the British Colonies (177r>). It shows 
Walker's and other frontier English settlements, and the traders' routes in eastern Kentucky and 
Tennessee. • 



282 UNDECLARED WAR. 

Virginia, as represented in the Ohio Company, moved 
Gist sent promptly. On September 16, 1750, Christopher Gist 
owo*com- received his instructions from the company's agents, 
pany. 1750. gy thesc ordcrs. he was to go as far as the falls of the 
Ohio, observe all jDasses, make note of the tribes on the way 
and compute their numbers, and look out for good level lands 
fit to be selected under their grant. Gist started from Colonel 
Cresap's on October 31, 1750. His journal has been 
preserved, as published by Governor Pownall in his 
Topographical Description of Korth America (London, 1776), 
and his route is pricked on the English maps of Mitchell and 
Evans. Gist was at Logstown on November 25, where he 
learned that George Croghan and Andrew Montour, sent out 
by Pennsylvania, had a little earlier passed that way. 

The exact position of this trading-post, Logstown, is in some 
dispute. It was seventeen or eighteen miles below the 
forks, near the modern town of Economy, but whether 
on the north or south side of the river is in doubt. It was very 
likely on both sides, or at least some of its buildings may have 
been on each bank. The principal settlement was perhaps on 
the north side, where it is placed by Mitchell, Evans, Kalra, 
Christian Post, and Hutehius. Croghan, in 1765, places it on 
the south side ; and Arthur Lee, in 1784, speaks of it as " for- 
merly a settlement on both sides of the river." 

Gist reached the Muskingum River on Decenj{)er 14, and saw 
Gist at the ^" English flag flying above Croghan's house. Here 
December™' ^^ found somc Wyaudots, divided in their interests 
between the English and French, perhaps a hundred 
families of them, a fragment of tlie ancient Hurons. They had 
been recently admitted to the Miami confederacj^ and were now 
scattered in their villages aloncr the southern shore of Lake 
Erie, between points markcl by the modern Cleveland and 
Sandusky Tolcdo. They were ot^ntred about Sandusky Bay, and 
^"^' this region, judirinfr from a legend on MitchelVs map, 

was regarded by the English as the chief point of Indian 
interest. 

Gist had no reason to comnlnin of his reception. Iloro he 
Crociianand ovcrtook Crogliau. tho idol of the Scotch-Irish traders, 
Montour. ^^^ gj^^ ^ companion whom Croghan had, almost as 
conspicuous as Croghan himself in this wilderness life, and 




[Colonel Thomas Cresap's manuscript map of the sources of the Potomac, following a sketch in 
Sharpens Correspondence, vol. i. p. 72 (in Maryland Archives, vol. vi.). It shows the divide between 
the Potomac and the Monongahela and the line of Fairfax manor, running from the source of the 
North Branch.] 



284 UNDECLARED WAR. 

more picturesque. This brisk personage was Andrew Montour, 
whom we have already spoken of as on the warpath against 
the Catawbas. These Indians, some years before, had slain his 
father, Big Tree, an Oneida chief. Montour had a European 
face, derived from his French half-breed mother, but it was 
greased and painted like a savage's ; and his garb was decked 
out with tinkling spangles. These three men — Gist, Cro- 
ghan, and Montour — were an interesting group, and the history 
of this frontier period was not a little shaped by each and all 
of them. 

Gist now passed to a village on the Hockhoeking, and later 
to a Delaware town on the Scioto. Here he struck across the 
country to the Big Miami, where, at the mouth of Loramie 
Creek, one hundred and fifty miles up the stream from the 
Pickawii- Ohio, he founded the post of Picktown, or Pickawil- 
^^^^' lany, then the most remote western station of the 

English, maintained in hardy defiance of the French at De- 
troit. This trading-post was surrounded by about four hundred 
Indian families, forming a settlement known as Tawixtwi. It 
was presided over by the head chief of the Miamis. The store- 
houses had been built, as we have seen, in the autumn of 1750, 
and the Pennsylvanians had gained the Indians' assent by a 
free distribution of gifts made at the hands of Croghan and 
Montour. Gist found about fifty English packmen gathered 
here, and with their backing he had little difficulty in making 
a treaty with the Indians assembled there. Some Ottawas had 
been sent from Detroit in the French interest, to prevent such 
a treaty, but the Miamis scoffed at their interference. The 
French and their allies did not forget it, and during the fol- 
lowing winter they killed fifty of the Miamis. The Ottawas, 
however, were far from as constant as the French would have 
them, and these deserters occasionally came into the Miami 
town, which the French always approached with great risks. 

Galissonniere, as we have seen, felt, before he was recalled, 
Gaiisson- that the situation in this Ohio region was becoming 
the'^ohio gravc, and the home government had evinced little 
region. interest in his scheme of settling French peasants 

thereabouts. In December, 1750, he had warned the ministry 
that the communications of Canada and Louisiana were in 
danger. To Champigny it seemed as if the dominance of 



DETROIT AND NIAGARA. 285 

trade over agriculture was sure to lead to evil, and Galissonniere 
forebodingly pointed to the farming and home life of the Eng- 
lish and tlie growth which it prompted, as likely in the «nd to 
wrest the western country from the control of the French. If 
the English coidd only make and keep a gap in the chain of 
the French posts southward to the Mississippi, they would, as 
he thought, have every advantage in alienating the Indians still 
adhering to the French. In this manner, these rivals would 
open their way to Louisiana and ultimately to Mexico. Such 
were the views which Galissonniere was now urging in Paris, 
and he had the sympathy of his successor, Jonquiere, in Quebec. 

There were two places in the western country the possession 
of which was necessary to the French cause : one was Detroit and 
Detroit, the other was Niagara. , Niagara. 

Celoron had been put in command at the straits in 1750. 
Here the Bourbon flag was flying from a palisaded town, and 
on either hand, up and down the Detroit River, for seven or 
eight miles, numerous Indian villages were scattered. The 
fixed population of the post was, perhaps, five hundred, but 
including the dependent tribes, the whole number of souls under 
French control was about twenty-five hundred. " The savage 
part of this motley assemblage was essentially nomadic. Some 
bands of the Hurons still left there were soon to follow their 
brothers to the southern shore of Lake Erie, to be better known 
there as Wyandots. Here they were to become neighbors to 
the Ottawas already cabined in that region. 

The French of the straits were making the best of a rather 
dull life. A few families had come there to get the bounties 
which were pi-omised ; but on the whole, young men predomi- 
nated, and there were few girls to make them wives. Sneh was 
the place held, now by the French and later by the English, 
in the hope of controlling the destinies of the Ohio valley. 
Forbes at Duquesne in 1758, and "Wayne at the Fallen Tim- 
bers in 1794, were at a still later day to change its masters, 
with the downfall successively of the French and English flags. 

The main channel of communication from Detroit southward 
was by Fort Miami at the confluence of the St. Joseph 

•i . . . ^ c^^ Communlca- 

and the Maumee rivers, and thence to the ohawnee tionsof 
town at the mouth of the .Scioto, the modern Ports- 



286 UNDECLARED WAR. 

mouth. A second trail ran from Fort Miami to Fort Ouiata- 
non on the Wabash. In this direction the French government 
had strengthened their position by grants of land, the titles to 
which were not all extinguished till a century and more later. 

The more direct route into the Ohio valley from Montreal 
The Niagara ^as of coursc f rom the Niagara post, and so on to the 
route. more easterly portages of Lake Erie. We have seen 

that Celoron in 1749 had gone by Lake Chautauqua. A better 
route was now recognized as passing by Presqu' Isle. The 
safety of these passages depended upon the temper of the Iro- 
quois, and both English and French had efficient and wily 

agents to employ among them, in William Johnson 
Johnson and aud Joucairc. The Irish squire of the Mohawk was 

quite the equal of the Frenchman in the arts which 
allured the savage. Johnson had been made a member of the 
New York council in May, 1750, and he told his associates that 
declared hostilities would be more tolerable than the uncertain- 
ties of the game of bribery, which both French and English 
were now playing. " I can at any time get an Indian to kill 
any man by paying him a small matter," he said. " Going on 
in this manner is worse than open war." The fact was that 
what one side did the other must do, and there seemed no 
remedy as long as peace ostensibly lasted. 

Jonquiere was not only sending warning letters to Governor 
Theiro- Clintou, wliilc the English government was entering 
quois. counter protests in Paris, but the Canadian governor 

was instructing his emissaries to win over the Cayugas. As 
the season went on, Conrad Weiser discovered through his spies 
that the Senecas were in the same way being roused to attack 
the English on the Ohio. The French priests were doing their 
part, and it was reported they were making converts by the hun- 
dred among the Onondagas. The results of all these agencies 
were enough to make Jonquiere confident. " The English in- 
terests among the Six Nations can be of no consideration any 
longer," he said. " The Indians speak with contempt of the 
New York and Albany people, and much the same of the rest 
of the English colonies." 

Amid all this supposed defection of the Iroquois, the English 

still held fast to Oswego, and its increasing trade 

showed that the French traffic was proportionately 



PIQUET. 287 

decreasing, and that the founding of Fort Rouille (Toronto) 
had not done what was hoped for. 

It was evident that Oswego must fall, or at least its capture 
be attempted by the French, as a first act of declared hostilities. 
Galissonniere, in Paris, was urging preparations for it. So Jon- 
quiere was instructed to stir up the Iroquois to attempt its de- 
struction. He was cautioned to be polite in all his intercourse 
with the English, so as not to disclose his purpose. 

No business could better suit Piquet, the Jesuit master of La 
Presentation (Ogdensburg). The government at Que- 
bec had for some time supplied him with clothing, 
arms, and ammunition, to win the confederates and to get their 
consent to build a fort at Irondequoit. This priest, saint or 
rascal as he was to one and another, was a man of energetic 
purpose, fertile in devices, and he had completely won the 
admiration of both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers at Quebec. 
He is said to have boasted that his services did more for 
France than troops or money. His ardor was sometimes ques- 
tionable, at least, when his garb as a priest became the cloak of 
a skulking enemy. 

It was he who was now to do service in reconnoitring Oswego. 
He discovered that there were hills on all sides to command it, 
— a fact not lost upon Montcalm a few years later. He was 
aware that the secret of Oswego as a trading-post depended 
upon the fact that two beaver-skins would buy as good a brace- 
let at Oswego as ten at Niagara. 

There was cause for alarm at Albany, when it was learned 
that the French had really secured command of Lake 
Ontario by launching a three-masted vessel at Fort on Lake"'' 
Frontenac. This ugly fact was one of the points 
which came up in July, 1751, at a conference which Clinton had 
called at Albany. The purpose of the meeting was 
to form some alliance among the colonies, if possible, conS-ence. 
and a league with the Six Nations. The only colonies 
which responded were Massachusetts and South Carolina, — the 
latter for the first time brought to an acknowledgment of her 
joint interests with New York. The southern province's present 
object was to mediate between the Catawbas and the iroquoisand 
Iroquois. The reconciliation of these tribes had long ^^a**"'^*"' 
been desired, and often attempted, as their enmity was awkward 



288 UNDECLARED WAR. 

for the colonies* north and south, considering that both were 
friendly to their immediate English neighbors. The contests of 
these foes usually taking place in Virginia, the government of 
that province had an almost equal interest in the pacification 
of the combatants. Colonel Lee of Virginia had already tried 
within a year or two to see what effect a l)estowal of gifts on 
each would do. Governor Glen of Carolina had only recently 
been complaining that the Senecas, on pretense of warring on 
the Catawbas, were plundering the whites of his province. 
The Senecas had. replied that if the Catawbas would send some 
chief men to Albany, they would confirm a peace. . This 
brought about the meeting at Albany under consideration, when 
the grounds of reconciliation were accepted by both tribes, the 
Catawbas agreeing to restore their Iroquois prisoners. 

Farther than this, Clinton got little satisfaction out of the 
conference, and he grew to feel that nothing but compulsory 
legislation on the part of Parliament coidd ever bring the 
colonies into a pact for common defense. 

Jonquiere, at Quebec, was hardly less uneasy than his antag- 
onist at Albany. He felt that the government at 
and Clin- Paris, in requiring him to drive the English from the 
Ohio, was putting a task upon him difficult, if not 
impossible, to accomplish, unless he could be reinforced by royal 
troops ; and he could get no promise of these. He therefore 
asked to be recalled. 

Meanwhile, the news from the Ohio was disquieting. Small- 
Affairs on po^ ^^^^ broken out among the French, and there was 
the Ohio. great scarcity in their supplies. Loiigueil reported 
that if the disease would only seize the rebel tribes about 
them, it would be " fully as good as an army." Lingeris at 
Ouiatanon sent word that the best he could do with the Kicka- 
poos and Mascoutins was to keep them neutral. " They were 
nourishing vipers," as Vaudreuil sent word from New Orleans, 
if they persisted in harboring the English traders. 

It looked as if everything was going so far wrong that it is 
Jonquiere ^o wouder that Jonquiere desired a quieter life. Be- 
dies. 1752. gjjgg^ ]^g ^,j^g j^^^y ^ miiw of sevcnty-sevcn, and could 
ill bear the strain. It happened that before he could be re- 
lieved, he suddenly died in the si)ring of 1752 (March G), not 
in the best of humor with a people that believed stories of his 



CHRISTOPHER GIST. 289 

corruption and saw evidence of liis nepotism. He sank amid 
the last solemnities of his religion, but his detractors said that 
with all his riches he died amid the smoking glare of tallow 
dijDS, his parsimony even in that hour forbidding the cost of 
wax. Longueil, wh» was in authority at Montreal, hastened 
to Quebec to take the reins of power during the interregnum. 

We left Gist at Pickawillany, and need to follow him farther. 
He was impressed with what he deemed the power 
of the Miamis or Twigh twees, as, following the Eng- Pickawii- 
lish habit, he called them. " They are accounted the theVwight- 



wees. 



most powerful people to the westward of the English 
settlements," he says; "at present very well affected toward 
the English and fond of their alliance with them." They had 
sought this connection by breaking with the French and pass- 
ing over the Wabash. 

Gist's course from this point would, according to his instruc- 
tions, have taken him to the falls of the Ohio, but rumors 
reached him of parties of French lingering in that region, and 
he thought it prudent to retrace his steps in part, so as to de- 
scend the Scioto. At its mouth he found a colony of Shawnees, 
living in what was usually called the Lower Shawnee shawnees of 
town. This village had not been long established, but ""^^"^""o- 
it had already become a station for traders. It was about two 
hundred and seventy miles from Philadelphia as the Pennsylva- 
nia packmen commonly went. The Shawnees at this time were 
partly at least reclaimed from the French interests, which they 
had embraced in the last war. 

Gist had now in his circuitous route come in contact with all 
the great divisions of the Ohio tribes, and for the Theoino 
most part he felt that the English could depend upon *"'^''^' 
them in the coming struggle. Governor Hamilton of Pennsyl- 
vania had already, through his scouts, come to this conclusion, 
and had conununicated it to Clinton in May, 1750. Later in 
the year, Croghan was on the Ohio, reporting that the French 
were trying to persuade the Indians to let tliem build a fort. 
The Indians on tlieir part were warning the English that 
war must come, and that they should be prepared for it by 
building a fort themselves. Croghan's plan was to induce the 
Sliawnees and Twightwees to move farther up the Ohio, so as to 



290 UNDECLARED WAR. 

be nearer English support. He was confident the Wyandots 
toward Lake Erie would stand firm. In the following April 
(1751), the Indians in a conference with Croghan prepared a 
distinct request to the Pennsylvania authorities to fortify the 
forks of the Ohio for the protection of them and the English 
traders. A few weeks later, Croghan and Montour confronted 
the French agents at Logstown, each distributing presents to 
the Indians. There was such decided success on the part of the 
English in this rivalry that Joncaire apologized to Croghan 
for the necessity, in obedience to his orders, of attempting 
to diminish the English influence. Croghan speaks highly of 
Montour's aid in this work : " He is very cap^^ble of doing busi- 
ness, and is looked upon by all the Indians as one of their 
chiefs." 

Unfortunately for the English, the Delawares and Iroquois — 
who occupied the eastern and southeastern part^ of 

The Dela- i • i o e r\^ • i i • 

wares and what IS uow the otatc oi (Jhio, and were thus inter- 
posed between the Wyandots, Miamis, and Shawnees, 
and the English frontiers — were the least to be trusted in the 
coming emergency. The Delawares were nowhere gathered in 
compact settlements, and had not forgotten the treatment which 
they had received from the Pennsylvanians in being ejected from 
the Susquehanna regions. Gist says that the Delaware town 
on the east side of the Scioto was the farthest west of these 
wandering people. They had about five hundred warriors, and 
in Gist's judgment could be depended upon. By this time 
more of the Iroquois were living on the upper Ohio than were 
left in their original country in New York, and in Weiser's 
opinion it was quite uncertain how they would turn when 
pressed to take sides, — especially the Mingoe's, a branch of the 
Senecas, who were prominent in this region. 

This Lower Shawnee town, where Gist now crossed the Ohio, 
is described a few years later bv Mitchell as havino- 

The Lower t-itic ii-i p i 

Shawnee '^ an Lugflisli factorv. and beino: by water four hun- 

town. o ./ 

dred miles from the forks of the Ohio." It was on 
March 13, 1751, that Gist thus entered upon the Kentucky 
territory. With the aid of a compass, he records his courses 
carefully, and we easily follow his further progress. He went 

Note. Tlie opposite map is from Mitcliell's 3Iap of the British Colonies (1775), shotving 
Gist's route south of the Ohio River. 



292 UNDECLARED WAR. 

up the Licking, crossed the divide to the Kentucky River, 
passed up that stream, and went eastward to the head of the 
Clinch River. Thence passing New River, he went over the 
mountains to the springs of the Roanoke, — thus in part re- 
versing the route of Walker, — and completed in May, 1751, 
his protracted journey of about twelve hundred miles. 

He found on- his return to Virginia that the Ohio Company 
Gist's ^^^^ planned other work for him, and on July 16, its 

ex'^°edition agcuts gave him new instructions. He was, this time, 
1751-5-'. ^^j f^j^^i ^ good passage from Will's Creek to the Mo- 
nonoahela, whence he was to course the south bank of the Ohio 
to the Big Kanawha, which he was to ascend in search of good 
lands. On November 4, he was on his way. Leaving the com- 
pany's storehouse at Will's Creek, he fovind a new gap to the 
Monongahela, nearer than that used by the traders, which led 
him to the middle fork of the Youghiogheny. He was ab- 
sent on this second quest till March, 1752, and upon his re- 
port being made, the company in October petitioned the gov- 
ernor to be allowed to take up two hundred thousand acres on 
the south side of the Ohio. Other grants having already been 
made in this region, there were difficulties which the company 
•sought to surmount by promising to settle upon their lands two 
hundred families more than they had before agreed, and to build 
The Ohio ^^ additional fort. Upon this a way was found to 
Company yield, aud the petition was granted. In April, 1752, 
Indians. {}\^i was scut aiuoug the Indians once more, this time 
to induce them to take land within the company's grant, and 
by living among the white settlers to form a mutual support 
against the French. ^ . 

The Virginian^ were thus outdoing the Pennsylvanians in 
offers of alliance, for when, just before this (February, 1752), 
tlie Indians had asked Hamilton to assist them against the 
French, the governor had been obliged to ackno\\ledge (April 
24) that " those who have the disjiosition of the public money 
are entirely averse" to affording sm-h help. This meant that 
the Quaker element in Pennsylvania still held the political 
ascendencv in its assembly. 

With ail this lack of concert on the English part, the French 
The French l^^d uot as yct succeedcd in undermining the English 
despondent, influence ; and when in April Longueil was possessed 



CONFERENCE AT LOGSTOWN. 293 

of Jonquiere's power, he complained that he was invested with 
the government " under very unfortunate circumstances." "The 
English," he adds, " look with longing eyes both on the lands 
of the Beautifvd River [Ohio] and generally on all that vast 
country." Joncaire's reports had disheartened him. The 
Piankashaws had declared against the French, he learned, and 
nothing could save the Ohio country but to throw into it a 
sufficient force. 

As the summer came on, the Virginians were again astir. 
Gist, with Colonel Trent and others, met the Indians at 

X •1-1 PUT 11 • Conference 

Logstown in the latter part of May, and the meeting atLogstown. 
was prolonged till toward the middle of June (1752). 
It was the object of the Ohio Company to get the tribes to con- 
firm the cessions which the Indians had made at Lancaster 
in 1744. They soon encountered opposition from the Shaw- 
nees and Mingoes, but with the assistance of Croghan and 
Montour, representing the interests of Pennsylvania, the dis- 
affected tribes yielded, and between June 9 and 13 difficulties 
were composed, and a deed was finally passed. The Indians at 
the same time agreed not to molest the Virginia settlers on the 
south side of the Ohio. They also, recounting the neglect by 
Pennsylvania of their request, repeated to the Virginia goveriv 
ment their wish to have an English fort at the forks of the 
Ohio. 

The way was now opened for settlers to push down the Mo- 
nongahela, and twelve families were soon pickinsr out 

, . , 1 1 -11 /-(• . 1 Settlers on 

tlieir liome lots along its banks, (jist was instructed the Mouon- 
to lay out a town and fort at the mouth of Chartier's 
Creek, four miles below the forks, while Trent, laden with 
messages and gifts, was sent forward to the Miamis' country to 
confirm the alliance of these western tribes. He found the con- 
ditions here far from as satisfactory as he had left them near 
the forks. 

A season of disquietude among the French, when their traders 
had been pushed back toward Detroit, had been fol- pj^jj^^. 
lowed in the early summer of 1752 by an organized at- Stacked. 
tack on the English post at Pickawillany. The act was ^^^^" 
simply necessary, if the French were to mainta^ii their position 
at Detroit. The half-breed, Charles Langlade, had come from 
Mackinac with a following of Ottawas and Chippeways, and he 



294 UNDECLARED WAR. 

was equal to the emergency. Celoron found in him an active lieu- 
tenant, and with a force of about two hundred and forty French 
and Indians, Langlade fell upon the Miami town, and savage 
and English trader fled before him. By this attack, the valleys 
of the Maumee and Miami were delivered from the presence of 
the pestilent English, The legend on Evans's later map says 
that it was this success which prompted the French to under- 
take their ambitious scheme of establishing armed posts through- 
out the Ohio valley, and so finally provoked the armed outbreak 
under Washington. 

Meanwhile the movements of the rival powers in Europe were 
brinffino: the conflict nearer. Charles Townshend was 

Portents 

in Europe, urging (1752) warlike measures in the English Com- 
mons. Bigot, the Canadian intendant, was pressing 
like measures on the Paris ministry. In July, the IMarquis 
Duquesne Duquesuc dc Mcnneville had reached Quebec, reliev- 
in Quebec, jj^g Lougueil of his temporary command. His in- 
structions recapitulated the old story of La Salle's discovery of 
the Mississippi, as a warrant for the French claims, and in the 
main he was authorized to carry out the projects which Galis- 
sonniere had advocated. The government fairly acknowledged 
that their past policy of inciting one tribe against another had 
failed, and there was no resort now but to exert a direct force 
themselves. Canada, at this time, could muster about thirteen 
thousand militia, and Duquesne ordered stated drills among 
them. He also put in as good condition as possible the small 
body of regular troops which were scattered in the various gar- 
risons. 

The strategic point seemed for the present to be among the 
TheMiamis Miamis. In the spring of 1753, eloncaire was at work 
French."'^ amoug them, and they soon sued for peace. The as- 
^^^' semblies of Pennsylvania and Virginia, anticipating 

this defection, had bestirred themselves, and had ordered Trent 
and Montour to carry gratuities to these western tribes. It 
was too late, however, to regain them. The French had accom- 
plished their purpose. 

Note. The map on tlie opposite page is from Sayer and Jefiferys' reproduction of Danville's 
North America (London), showing the geography of the Ohio valley as understood in the middle 
of the eighteenth century. 



296 



UNDECLARED WAR. 



It was now evident that the English must direct their close 
Forks of the attention upon the forks of the Ohio. Dinwiddie had 
^^"^ already, in December, 1752, appealed to the Board of 

Trade for aid in establishing some forts on the Ohio. He had 









•3 
9 







^""^^ 






4'^ 










% 









M^ 






w 



4- 






^ / 






% 



[From Hutchiiis's Topographical Description of Virginia, London, 1778.] 

also asked for twenty or thirty small cannon. lie informed the 
board that a practicable road, made by the Indians, already ex- 
isted, by which with only eighty miles of land-carriage such 
guns could be carried from the head of the Potomac to a branch 




THE FRENCH CREEK ROUTE. 
[From Howell's Map of Pennsylvania, 1791.] 




T PITT 



Note. This and the opposite map (continuing this one at the top) are from an original contempo- 
rary sketch, reproduced in the Aspinwall Papers, in 4 3fass. Hist. Coll., vol. ix. p. 302. It shows 
the usual route from Fort Pitt to Venango, Le Bojuf, and Presqu' Isle. The capital letters are ex- 
plained in a key giving the width of the various streams, to wliich the letters are attached. The key 
adds : " Opposite Venango the river is 200 yards wide ; the mouth of French Creek 100 yards wide ; 
a wagon road may be made over any of the hills." 



300 UNDECLARED WAR. 

of the Ohio. It was reckoned that from Will's Creek on the 
Potomac, over the divide to the Monongahela, and so on to the 
forks of the Ohio, was a distance of one hundred and eight 
miles. 

It was a pressing question whether the French or English 
Routes to would first get to the forks in force. The English 
the forks. must rcach it by a course of more than a hundred 
miles from the Potomac, or by two hundred from Philadelphia. 
The Pennsylvanians maintained a good road to Will's Creek, 
but from this point it was necessary to follow the Virginia route 
to the Monongahela. They had, however, an independent trail 
for horses, which followed up the Susquehanna and ran for 
sixty-seven miles over the mountains, and reached the Alleghany 
about twelve miles above the forks. 

Once at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela, the 
The Ohio positioii was a commanding one, well worth the strug- 
vauey. g.jg ^q acquirc it. The Ohio lay in front, with a water- 

shed along its main stream, and branches of over two hundred 
thousand square miles, with about five thousand miles of navi- 
gable water. The current moved at three miles an hour in 
its ordinary flow. The banks were well elevated, with bluffs 
occasionally rising to two hundred and fifty and sometimes to six 
hundred feet, and there was throughout most of its course an 
agreeable absence of " drowned lands." The meandering chan- 
nel made a distance not much short of a thousand miles in 
reaching the Mississippi, while as the bird flies the distance was 
shortened by a third. This was the natural highway for a great 
people. 

In the autumn of 1752, Marin was sent by Duquesne to be- 
ffin fortifiving the line of march which Celoron had 
expedition, followcd iu 1749. Leaving Niagara, the leading de- 
tachment of three hundred men began to build a fort 
at Chautauqua Creek, but when Marin himself came up with 
the main body, he disapproved the position and moved on to 
Presqu' Isle. Here he cut a road, twenty-one miles long, through 
a level tract of country to the Riviere aux Boeufs. This road 
is still in use, the local antiquaries say, for a distance of seven 
Fort miles south of Erie; and as late as 1825, cannon- 

Le Boeuf. j^^^j^jg ^^^ ^^j^^^, military relics were occasionally found 
along its route. Within the limits of the modern Watcrford 



MARIN'S EXPEDITION. 



301 



(Pa.) lie built a stockade, and called it Fort Le Boeuf. It was 
on the west branch of French Creek, and was the first armed 
station of the French in the northeastern parts of the Great 
Valley. 

Thus much had apparently been accomplished without the 




[From the Ameriqiie Septentrionale, par 3fitchel, Paris : par Le Rouge, J 777 ; corrigee en 177f> 
par M. Hawkins. It shows the routes from Duquesne. The most westerly fort on Lake Erie 
is " Sandoski, bati par les Fran, en 1751."] 



English getting any definite knowledge of the movement. In 
the following spring (April 20, 1753), Johnson learned by run- 
ners from Onondaga that there was a force gathering 

T-> T-. 1-11 1 • ^ ^ The French 

at x'ort Irontenac, which he suspected was intended remforced. 

for the Ohio. It was in fact reinforcements which 

were to join Marin's advance already there. On May 14, 



302 UNDECLARED WAR. 

thirty-three canoes of this force were seen to pass Oswego, and 
on the next day Captain Stoddart notified Johnson of the event, 
but grossly exaggerated the numbers, when he represented that 
this hostile movement was carried on with six thousand men. 
He added that the Indians accompanying the French were 
taken as hunters, and had refused to be combatants against the 
English. 

In May, Governor Hamilton was aroused, and urged the 
Pennsylvania Assembly to succor the Indians on the Alle- 
ghany, so as to prevent their being overcome by the French. 
Messengers conveying tidings of the danger were dispatched 
both to the Maryland authorities and to the Ohio Indians. Some 
of these had already made protests to the French commanders, 
but they got nothing but defiant answers. The Half-King, a 
local Mingo^ chief, sent messengers to the settlements for arms ; 
while, on the other hand, Marin found no difficulty in getting 
the aid of Delawares, Shawnees, and Senecas, to furnish men 
and horses to carry his supplies over the portage. 

The nearest English at this time, except wandering traders, 

were at Logstown on the Ohio, a score of miles below 

the forks. Croghan, foreseeing danger, had before 

this advised the Pennsylvania authorities to stockade this post, 

and to compel the traders to keep within it and not heedlessly 

wander about. 

When the news of this threatening movement reached the 
English ministry, Holderness at once instructed the Pennsyl- 
vania governor to use force, if necessary, to expel the French 
from "the undoubted limits of his Majesty's dominions." But 
before this injunction was received, Franklin and others met a 
Conference deputation of Oliio ludiaus in council (September, 
sep^tember, l'J'53) at Carlisle (Pa.). The representation of these 
^^^^' Indian delegates was that their permission to the 

English to occupy the forks had drawn upon them the enmity 
of the French. They averred that they had already three times 
protested against their movements in French Creek, but they 
had got no satisfaction. The French had assured them that 
they intended in all events to fortify Venango, the Forks, Logs- 
town, and Beaver Creek, and that nothing could prevent it. 
Upon this presentation of the French purpose, Croghan sug- 
gested, and the Indians urged, that the English at once develop 



WASHINGTON AT LE BCEUF. 303 

and strengtlien their trading-posts at Logstown, the mouth of 
the Kanawha, and at the forks. If the English would do so, 
the Indians promised to come to those posts for their traf- 
ficking. 

Already, in August, Colonel Trent had been sent by the Vir- 
ginia authorities to look over the groimd at the forks, and 
select a site for the proposed stockade. While he was return- 
ing to tidewater to make report, the Mingo Half- TheHaif- 
King, who had been with him, went on to Le Boeuf , ^buffed by 
to renew the protest to Marin. This native chief later ^'*'''°- 
gave Washington an account of the stern way in which the 
French officer received him. " I will go down the river, and 
I will build upon it," was all the answer he got. Marin was 
doubtless satisfied from the Half -King's bearing that the French 
advance under himself would be resisted, but fate had deter- 
mined that another leader should bear the brunt of ^^^.-^^^ ^^^ 
the conflict. In October, Marin died at his post ; but ^ss!"'^'^' 
it was not till December that Legardeur de St. Pierre, de at^'pterre 
who was just back from his search for the western succeeds. 
sea, and ajjpointed to succeed Marin, arrived at his post. He 
came to a diminished garrison, for a considerable part of the 
force had been sent back to Montreal, where they could be 
better supported during the winter. The appearance of these 
on their return convinced Duquesne that Marin had been wise 
in not pushing on too rapidly, for the fatigues of the campaign 
had borne heavily upon them. He wrote of them, that to have 
tried to reach the Mississippi would only have choked the river 
with their dead bodies. The return of this detachment had been 
observed from Oswego, and in ignorance of its meaning. Gov- 
ernor de Lancey was encouraged to think the danger was over. 

When Trent gave his report to Dinwiddie, that governor de- 
termined to make a formal demand upon the French wasiiington 
to withdraw." He jirepared the necessary letter, and '*'"'* '^° 



Le Breuf. 
1753. 



selected Washington, then adjutant-general of the 
Virginia forces, to deliver it. His instructions, dated October 
30, 1753, were to proceed to Logstown, and ask of the Half-King 
a safe-conduct to the French post. He was to deliver Dinwid- 
dle's letter, and make all the observations he could respecting 
the numbers of the French and their communications with 
Canada. 



306 UNDECLARED WAR. 

This undertaking of the young Virginian was trying in its 
His journal mature, and promised to be exhausting amid the rigors 
and map. q£ December. Fortimately, we have the messenger's 
journal, which was printed at Williamsburg shortly after his 
return. When reprinted in London, the next year, it was ac- 
companied by a map, based upon that of Bellin, given in Charle- 
voix, at this time nearly ten years old, but still much better 
than any which the English had yet produced. Bellin had been 
the earliest to trace with approximate accuracy the course of 
" L'Oio," for it had npt been unusual — as seen, for instance, 
in the Dutch maps of Vander Aa — to make the Ouabache 
(Wabash) and the Ohio parallel streams. The course of the 
Ohio, as given by Evans, had been somewhat changed by Gist, 
but his corrections had not yet been embodied in any of the 
maps. 

At Will's Creek on the Potomac, November 14, Washington 
found Gist, who joined him, and two days later the party had 
passed the divide and was at the big forks of the Youghiogheny. 
A few days afterward, they swam their horses over the Alle- 
ghany near its mouth, and hurried on to Logstown. Here 
Washington conferred with the Half-King, and learned how 
roughly that chief had been treated by Marin. He also had 
an interview with some French deserters, who had come up 
from New Orleans on a flotilla with stores. He eagerly ques- 
tioned them about the French posts on the Mississiijpi. 

There were a hundred miles yet to travel before reaching Le 
Boeuf ; but at Venango Washington got some relief 

Venango. , . ^ . i • i t 

from an irksome journey, m the courtesies which Jon- 
eaire offered him. This assiduous Frenchman was now occu- 
pying the house of John Frazier; a Scotch trader and gunsmith, 
who had lived here for some years, but had just been driven off 
by Joncaire's party, the van of the French expedition. Above 
the cabin of the fugitive, Joncaire now displayed the flag of the 
Bourbons. Within, there was a comfortable fire and a generous 
board, and eToncaire, as we have seen in his interview with 
Croghan, had all the courtesy which belonged to his French 
half-breed nature. This and liberal potations induced mutual 
confidence, and before the hour for parting came, Washington 
had possessed himself fully of the purposes of the French. 
That these purposes were stubborn Washington learned on 



THE OHIO COMPANY. 307 

the lltli, when he reached the fort at Le Boeuf. Gist records 
that they were received " with a great deal of complai- 
sance," for St. Pierre had all the politeness of his race. 
Washington presented Dinwiddie's letter, and three days later 
the French commander placed in the young adjutant's hands a 
reply as uncompromising as a determined purpose coidd make 
it. A journey back more perilous than the coming was before 
the little embassy. By the middle of January, 1754, Washing- 
ton was again in Williamsburg. 

Washington's report convinced Dinwiddie that there was no 
resort left but force. The instructions of Holderness 
were timely. Following up the minister's advice, the become 
Lords of Trade had, on September 18, 1753, coun- 
seled the colonies to aim at concerted action, and in December 
Johnson told the authorities of New York that the Indians were 
right in predicting French success unless the English bestirred 
themselves. Dinwiddie acknowledged that if the French suc- 
ceeded for a while in holding the Ohio valley, they could intro- 
duce settlers to make their hold effective, for a much more 
attractive climate and soil than Canada possessed would invite 
them to the valley. 

The Dinwiddie correspondence shows how expresses were 
speeding up and down the Atlantic coast carrying urgent 
appeals to the other governors to come to his assistance. The 
several assemblies, however, were little inclined to commit them- 
selves to an unknown task, particularly as the feeling was grow- 
ing that Dinwiddie's aims were rather political and personal 
than patriotic. It was thought that to advance the xheohio 
interests of the Ohio Company was not worth the risk company. 
of a harrowing border war. Contrecoeur, a little later, when 
he summoned the paltry band of English at the forks, was not 
unaware of this feeling. " Your schemes," he says to the rep- 
resentatives of Virginia, "are contrived only by a company 
which hath the interests of trade more in view than to maintain 
the union and harmony existing between the crowns of Great 
Britain and France," — and there was truth in his words. 

The Indians drew their conclusions from the way in which 
Virginia was pushing ahead. Croghan discovered that The urgency 
it was believed among them that the apathy of Penn- virghua 
sylvania was likely to leave France and Virginia alone ^®^"^«"- 



308 UNDECLARED WAR. 

to divide the Indian country between them, and he warned the 
colonial powers that if they suffered the Shawnees to want for 
ammunition, the French would surely gain them. 

To Dinwiddie's mind, it was little short of treason for a Vir- 
ginian to defend, as some were doing, the French interpretation 
of the rights of discovery. When his House of Burgesses, a 
little later, proved obdurate, and would not grant him subsi- 
dies, but professed much loyalty, he bitterly told them that their 
" ardent zeal was only an unavailing flourish of words." 

Either a like defection or indifference prevailed outside of 
New York's Virginia. New York was seldom as \'igilant as she 
apathy. might bc. When matters looked badly a year and 
more before, Hendrick, the Mohawk chief, taunted her people 
for sitting in peace at Albany, while their Indian neighbors 
were pressing a common foe. It took all of Johnson's adroitness 
to heal these sores of the Indians. " You may rest contented," 
they finally said, " that we will protect the tree which you have 
replanted, from the high winds of Canada." Now, when De 
Lancey was urging his assembly to stand by Virginia, it agreed 
to double the garrison at Oswego, and even do something more, 
but in no wise to give an adequate assistance. It even doubted 
whether the French occupation on the Alleghany was any en- 
croachment on his majesty's territory. 

Governor Glen of South Carolina was indifferent enough to 
The feeling pooli-pooli at the indignant activity of the Virginia 
Lud Pe°nn-* govcmor, but Dinwiddle rejoiced that the Cherokees 
eyivania. ^^^ Catawbas Were not disinclined to defend their 
Ohio hunting-grounds. The governor of Pennsylvania was not 
without sympathy ; but his assembly could hardly be depended 
upon. The Proprietary stood ready to assist Virginia in fortify- 
ing the forks, but he cautiously wished it to be understood that 
he did not acknowledge thereby any territorial rights of that 
province about the forks. 

It seemed, therefore, if there were to be war, that it rested 
with Dinwiddle to begin it ; and he determined to take 
warmeas- the risk. It was evident from Washington's report 
that the French intended with the spring to advance 
upon the forks, and had gathered a large number of canoes 
for the purpose. There were also rumors that a great body 
of Chippeways and Ottawas were on the way to assist them. 



WASHINGTON'S FIRST CAMPAIGN. 309 

Croghan heard from a Chickasaw that the French had a force 
of a thousand men gathered at the falls of the Ohio, and that 
they were prepared to give aid. French deserters reported that 
a large contingent of French troops had arrived in Quebec, and 
in January, 1754, Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania was 
passing the story south. Dinwiddle felt that the time was come. 
The task before him was a burdensome one, and the home gov- 
ernment looked to him in the emergency. 

This Virginia governor once in a while hurt his prospects by 
an imperious air. He was occasionally unstable ; but 

. . "^ 1 (• 1 Dinwiddle 

he had enthusiasm, persistency, and a hatred oi the and Ms 

,. . . (. . assembly. 

French. These latter qualities got some satisfaction 
at last, when he brought his assembly to the pitch of voting 
,£10,000 for the emergency, and it was induced to offer boun- 
ties of land to those who would come forward in arms. There- 
fore Dinwiddle issued a proclamation, agreeing to divide two 
hundred thousand acres of this disputed territory among those 
who would defend it. This happened in February, 1754. 

While this was taking place at Williamsburg, Trent, who had 
been sent with a fatigue party to the forks, placed the stockade 
first post of a stockade on the spot on February 17. ^orks"jw^ 
Rumors that the French were coining soon reached the ^'^^''^' ^^^^' 
little party, and a messenger was dispatched to Dinwiddle for 
help. 

During March, Dinwiddle was busy organizing a regiment to 
be sent to occupy the fort. He placed it under the Washington 
command of Colonel Fry, whom we have already en- towardThe 
countered as a surveyor, and Washington was com- ^°^^^- 
missioned as the lieutenant-colonel. With such companies as 
were ready, Washington went forward to meet Trent's call for 
assistance. 

We should have excellent material for following this first 
campaign of the great Virginian, and the later ones 
of the French war, in his letters and iournals, if they ton's French 

iTTi- ^^^^ letters, 

had come down to us as he wrote them. Unfortu- 
nately, such of Washington's letters of these eventful years as 
are derived from his letter-books were revised by him at a later . 
period, and in a way to obscure the ardor and change the natu- 
ral expression of the young officer, since the wisdom and expe- 
rience of riper years was made to overlay the spontaneity of 



310 UNDECLARED WAR. 

youth. The care which Washington took of his papers showed 
his appreciation of documentary records, but his stilting of the 
unstudied effusions of his earlier days showed also his essential 
lack of the historical spirit. It is an added misfortune that 
some of Washington's editors have further diminished the rep- 
resentative value of his writings. It is a satisfaction that Dr. 
and early Toucr and othcrs have had a proper appreciation of 
joiimais. ^jjg condition in print which should attach to a per- 
sonal document, and so far as possible Washington's earlier jour- 
nals are now readily accessible in a satisfactory shape. This 
cannot be true, however, of the itinerary which he kept during 
the venturesome experiences of the summer and autumn of 
1754. This journal, falling into the enemy's hands, was pub- 
lished in Paris in a French version, and later re-Englished by 
another hand. It was thus subjected to changes, omissions, and 
insertions which, by Washington's own testimony, largely in- 
validate it as evidence. It is in these perverted forms only that 
we have it. 

When Washington started out in March, 1754, Dinwiddie was 
Dinwiddle's Urging the authorities of New York and Massachusetts 
hopes. ^Q organize a counter movement against Canada, in 

order to prevent the sending of reinforcements to the Ohio. 
The appeal, however, was not heeded, though in April Dinwid- 
die was hopeful that a diversion would be made by way of the 
Kennebec. Thus Washington's party was left to its own devices. 

" It will be easier to prevent the French settling than to 
dislodge them when settled," wrote Dinwiddie to Sharpe of 
Maryland ; and this was the task in hand. It was no small 
one if the stories of French deserters, which were being sent 
south from Philadelphia, were true. One such represented that 
there were twelve hundred in garrison at Presqu' Isle, and five 
hundred at Le Boeuf. 

On April 9, Washington met an express from the forks, 
informing him that the force there was in hourly 
captured by expectation of an attack from eight hundred French. 
Eleven days later, reports reached him (April 20) 
that the French had captured the unfinished fort. Washington 
was at Will's Creek on the 22d, when Ensign Ward, who had 
surrendered the works, appeared and told his story. 



THE FORKS OF THE OHIO. 311 

The French from Le Boeuf had passed Venango, where 
Washmgton had seen Joncaire, and where, near Era- po^ 
zier's house, the French had built a fort during the ^^'^hauit. 
winter, which had been named Fort Machault, in honor of one 
of the favorites of the Pompadour. It was situated within the 
limits of the modern town of Franklin in Pennsylvania. De- 
scending the Alleghany, Contrecoeur, who commanded the 
detachment, had appeared before the English at the forks. 

Trent, the commander of the post, in terror or bewilderment, 
had gone away, and his lieutenant had also left his post to see 
his family, living not far distant. This gave the command of 
the working party to Ensign Ward. When the French leader 
demanded his surrender, the ensign, at the Half-King's sugges- 
tion, pleaded his inferior rank, and asked that a reply might be 
delayed tiU the return of his superior officers. The plea was fu- 
tile. Ward could but surrender, and now, five days Sard's 
later, — the surrender having been made on the 17th, Ajru^n®''' 
— Washington was listening to the terms by which the ^^^*" 
fort and a score or two of men passed into Contrecoeur's hands. 
The prisoners had been allowed by him to depart. 

There is no indisputable enumeration of the attacking force, 
except that they had eighteen small cannon. It was beyond 
question very greatly superior to Ward's, The hour was cer- 
tainly passed for succor, but Washington knew that he was ex- 
pected to prove his mettle. He sent forward a party to repair 
the road which Cresap had blazed over the mountains Washington 
to the Red Stone Creek on the Monongahela, where '*'i^*°°^*- 
the Ohio Company had recently erected a storehouse. Thus 
was made what was really the first wagon road into the Great 
Valley, from the Atlantic slope. It was later used in part by 
Braddock, and continued to be a thoroughfare till 1818, when 
the National Road was constructed in the same general direction. 
The line of the original highway can still be traced, or was to 
be traced, as late as 1877, when Lowdermilk, the local historian, 
followed it. 

On April 29, Washington started from Will's Creek with his 
main body of one hundred and fifty men. On May 9, he was 
at Little Meadows, on a tributai-y of the Youghiogheny. This 
was well within the valley, and at a later day was part of a 
property which Washington acquired. Here he erected some 



312 UNDECLARED WAR. 

slight protection for his supplies. Three days later, he met Gist, 
who told him he had seen tracks of a French force thereabouts. 
The Indian Half-King, who was hovering in the neighborhood, 
sent word to Washington that a French party lay concealed not 
far off, — a force under Jumonville, which Contrecoeur had sent 
out thi*ee days before to patrol the country and warn off any 
English to be found. Washington and the Indian chief now 
jumonviue ^®*5 ^^^ ^^ cousultatiou it was determined to attack 
attacked. ^^ French. The Virginian commander had at this 
t'me no knowledge of the purpose of Jumonville, and after 
Washington's impetuosity the following day led liim to an as- 
sault, in which the French leader was killed and most of his 
thirty-three followers were slain or captured, the English com- 
mander was put to some awkwardness in justifying his action. 
Jumonville had started out with a large force, but a part had 
been sent back to Duquesne, as Contrecoeur now called the 
fort at the forks. It was the tracks of this returning force 
which Gist had observed. On Jumonville's person was found 
a summons which he was instructed to serve on any English 
he might meet. In this summons Contrecoeur said to whoever 
should receive it that " the sale of lands on the Ohio River by 
the Indians has given you so weak a title that I shall be obliged 
to repel force by force." It proved that Washington in at- 
tacking had only anticipated an assault from Jumonville, who 
was simply waiting reinforcements. Two days later, Washing- 
ton (May 30) dispatched his prisoners to Winchester, and 
fearing a retaliatory attack from Contrecoeur, who is supposed 
to have had not far from a thousand men at his disposal, 
began to intrench. He was conscious that, in case of a parley, 
he was not well equipped in an interpreter, and in a few days 
wrote to Dinwiddie, asking that Andrew Montour might be 
Washington ^cnt to him. Armed supports began to reach him, 
Supreme ^^^ after a while he learned of the death of Colonel 
command. Yyj, who was ou his way to join the advance body. 
This gave the supreme command to Washing-ton. 

Note. The map on tlie opposite page is from Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, showing 
Lord Fairfax's manor, the dotted line running sontlieast from tlie "Springhead " of the North 
Fork of tlie Potomac giving the direction of the southern boundary of the manor, toward the 
Shenandoah valley. The " Springhead " is shown as contiguous to the source of tlie Mononga- 
hela. The road from Fort Necessity (on Red Stone Creek, a branch of the Moiiongaliela) runs to 
the fort and storehouse at the mouth of Will's Creek. Farther down the Potomac, ue.ir the 
mouth of the South Fork, is Colonel Cresap's settlement. Christopher Gist's abode is in the north' 
west corner of the map, on the road from Will's Creek to the forks of the Ohio. 



314 UNDECLARED WAR. 

While the intrenching was going on, rumors came of an ap- 
proaching foe. At the same time about forty Indians gathered 
in the camp, including, beside some Iroquois, a number of Loups 
(Delawares) and Shawnees. Washington had every reason to 
believe that some of these were spies. He tried to deceive such 
in his representations, and on the 27th he made his last entries 
in the journal whose history we have traced. 

In 1752, Gist, as the result of his explorations for the Ohio 
Company, had begun a settlement ten miles from the Monon- 
gahela, on what is now Mount Braddock, in Fayette County, 
Pennsylvania. Here, on June 28, Gist gave Washington the 
first explicit information he had had of a French force marching 
against him. The Virginian at first resolved to concentrate his 
men here and await an attack ; but his second thoughts prompted 
him to fall back to Great Meadows and strengthen the breast- 
work which he had already begun at that place. He had but two 
wagons and a few pack-horses to carry his intrenching tools, 
but he coidd trundle on their own wheels his nine small swivel 
four-pounders. The distance back to Fort Necessity, as this 
intrenchment was called, was thirteen miles, and in his advance, 
Washington clearing the road as he went, he had taken as many 
to*Fort* days. He now occupied but two days on the return 
Necessity, niarcli, but his men were almost overcome by the work. 
His supplies were scant, and even the expresses be sent back 
for relief made a welcome diminution of the mouths he had to 
feed. He had, perhaps, three hundred men in all, not counting 
a Carolina company which had joined him. Contrecoeur's 
whole force by this time had increased to about two thousand, 
and of these a party of some six or eight hundred was now ap- 
proaching. 

The usual story is, that the Chevalier de Villiers, a brother 
of Jumonville, was at Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi, when 
word reached him of the death of his brother. The time was 
certainly scant for the news to traverse the length of the Ohio 
and the avenger of Jumonville to return ; and it is much more 
likely, as better authorities say, that the tidings found him in 
Montreal. At all events, Villiers reached Duquesne on June 16, 
and learned that Contrecoeur had organized a force to attack 
Washington. In a day or two it started under Villiers's com- 
mand. 



WASHINGTON SURRENDERS. 315 

About eleven o'clock in the forenoon of July 3, 1754, Wash- 
ington, at Fort Necessity, saw the enemy advancing 
through the mist, along the road which he had so attack, 
laboriously made. The Virginians opened upon the 
foe at long range, with their little swivels, but without much 
effect. The Half-King, who was in the fort, was dissatisfied. 
He thought that Washington had not sufficiently intrenched 
himself, and that had he more effectively barricaded his force, 
he might have held out. The opposing force was certainly 
much larger than Washington's command, though perhaps not 
twelve hundred or even a thousand, as some testimony makes it. 
Adam Stephens's narrative gives Washington but two hundred 
and eighty-four men, and they were probably much less fresh 
than the French. The little fort is described as being " half 
leg deep of mud." Desultory firing was kept up the rest of 
the day, through a dismal rain, until in the evening Villiers 
sent an officer to demand a parley. The Virginians by this 
time had lost in killed and wounded about eighty. Washing- 
ton now had sore need of an interpreter like Montour. There 
was in his force a German, Jacob van Braam, who knew little 
English and no more French. It had become evident that 
Washing-ton could not successfully repel an assault, and he de- 
cided to obtain the best terms he could. By the light of a 
tallow candle in the misty rain, Van Braam and the French 
came to an agreement under Washington's directions. The 
terms secured for the vanquished the honors of war, the destruc- 
tion instead of the surrender of the swivels, and the giving of 
hostages for the return of the prisoners taken in the fight with 
Jumonville, — a provision that Dinwiddle stubbornly refused to 
carry out. 

On July 4, 1754, Washington and his little army marched 
out of his breastworks, and five days later the Virgin- 

Washington 

ians were at Weill's Creek. On the 24th, the news surrenders, 

. T ini T 1 July, 1754. 

was known m Montreal, ihus were the northeast- 
ern tributaries of the Great Valley abandoned by the English. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 
* 1497-1755. 

In considering the respective claims of the English and 
French to North America, it must be remembered that the con- 
flict of rights is not only one on identical lines arising from 
discovery, but one also on opposed lines arising from different 
conceptions of the rights of discovery. Th^ claims are also 
represented by contrary methods and purposes in enforcing 
them. 

The French, in the time of Francis I. and later, claimed the 
new continent by reason of Verrazano's voyage along its Atlan- 
tic coast. The claim, however, was not made good by perma- 
nent occupation anywhere along the seaboard of the present 
United States. 

Moreover, the English, under the Cabots, had sailed along 
this coast nearly thirty years before. Still, it was almost a cen- 
tury after those voyagers before the English government, urged 
by the spirit which Hakluyt and Dr. Dee were fostering, awoke 
to the opportunity, and began seriously to base rights upon the 
Cabot voyages. The French, at a later day, sought to discredit 
this English claim, on the ground that the Cabots were private 
adventurers and could establish no national pretensions. The 
English pointedly replied that their Henry VII. had given the 
Cabots patents which reserved to the crown dominion over any 
lands which were discovered. This reply was triumphant so 
far as it went, but it still left the question aside, whether 

The French ,. . i • i , ,1 • . • 

and English coast discovcry carried rights to the interior, par- 
ticularly if such inland regions drained to another 
sea. The English attempt in the latter part of the sixteenth 
century, under Raleigh's influence, to occupy Roanoke Island 
and adjacent regions, but without definite extension westward. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 317 

was in due time followed by successive royal patents and char- 
ters, beginning in 1606 and ending in 1665, which appropriated 
the hospitable parts of the continent stretching from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific. For a north and south extension these grants 
almost exactly covered the whole length of the Mississippi, 
since the parallel of 48°, which formed the northern limit, 
and that of 29°, which made the southern, were respectively a 
little north of the source of the Great River and just seaward 
of its deltas. 

The charter of. Acadia, granted by the , French king three 
years before the first of the English grants, covered the coast 
from latitude 40° to 46°, and was thus embraced in the preten- 
sions of the English king, but his rival refrained from giving 
any westward extension, beyond what was implied in " the 
lands, shores, and countries of Acadia and other neighboring 
lands." 

It is interesting to determine what, during this period of 
sixty years, mainly in the first half of the seventeenth century, 
were the notions, shared by the English king and his advisers, 
of the extent of this munificent domain, with which he and they 
were so free. 

A few years before the first of these grants was made to the 
Plymouth Company in 1606, Hakluyt had laid before supposed 
the world, in Molineaux's great mappemonde, the North Imer- 
ripest English ideas of the New World, and these gave "^''*' 
a breadth to North America not much different from what it 
was in reality. The Pacific coast line, however, was not car- 
ried above Drake's New Albion, our modern Upper California. 
This left the question still undetermined, if one could not travel 
on a higher parallel dryshod to Asia, as Thomas Morton, later 
a settler on Boston Bay, imagined he could. 

Molineaux gives no conception of the physical distribution of 
mountain and valley in this vast area, further than to bulk the 
Great Lakes into a single inland sea. The notion of an immense 
interior valley, corresponding in some extent to our Mississippi 
basin, which Mercator forty years before had divined, had not 
yet impressed the British mind. Mercator, indeed, had mis- 
conceived it, in that he joined the Mississippi and St. Law- 
rence basins together by obliterating the divide between them. 
In this way he made his great continental river rise in Arizona 



318 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

and sweep northeast, and join the great current speeding to the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Here, then, in the adequate breadth of 
the continent, as Mercator and Molineaux drew it, is conclusive 
evidence that the royal giver of these vast areas had, or could 
have had, something like a proper notion of the extent of his 
munificent gifts. At the date of the last of these charters, in 
1665, Cartier and his successors had for a hundred and thirty 
years been endeavoring to measure the breadth of the continent 
by the way of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. They 
sought to prove by inland routes whether the estimated longi- 
tude of New Albion had been accurate or not. There had, it 
is true, been some vacillation of belief meanwhile. One thing 
had been accomplished to clarify the notions respecting these 
great interior spaces. The belief of Mercator had given way to 
the expectation of finding a large river, flowing in a southerly 
direction, whose springs were separated from those of the St. 
Lawrence by a dividing ridge. It was not yet determined 
where the outlet of this great river was. Was it on the Atlan- 
tic side of Florida, as a long stretch up the coast from the 
peninsula was at that time called? Was it in the Gulf of 
Mexico, identifying it with the stream in which De Soto had 
been buried ? Was it in the Gulf -of California, making it an 
extension of the Colorado River ? Each of these views had its 
advocates among the French, who had already learned something 
of the upper reaches of both the Ohio and Mississippi. It was 
left for Joliet and Marquette, a few years later, not to discover 
the Mississippi, but to reach the truth of its flow, and for La 
Salle to confirm it. 

These latter explorations of the priest and trader gave the 
The Missis- Frcuch such rights as came from traversing through- 
wppi valley. ^^^^ ^^^ water-ways which led with slight interruption 
from the water back of Newfoundland to the Mexican gvalf. In 
due time this immense valley of the Mississippi was entered by 
the British traders, as they discovered pass after pass through 
the mountain barrier all the way from New York to Carolina. 
The French, indeed, had permanent settlements among the Illi- 
nois and on the lower Mississippi, but in other parts of the 
Great Valley there is little doubt that wandering Britons were 
quite as familiar to the Indians as the French trader or adven- 
turer. If the evidence is not to be disputed, there was among 



THEIR CLAIMS FORMULATED. 319 

these hardy British adventurers a certain John Howard, who 
was, perhaps, the first, on the • English part, to travel the whole 
course of one of the great ramifications of the valley. It was 
in 1742 that he passed from the upper waters of the James over 
the mountains to New River, by which he reached the Ohio. 
Descending this main affluent, he was floating down the Missis- 
sippi itself when he was captured by some French and Indians 
and conveyed to New Orleans. An air of circumstantiality is 
given to the expedition in the journal of John Peter Salley, 
who was one of Howard's companions. Fry, in his rejjort to 
the Ohio Company at a later day, made something of this ex- 
ploit as crediting the English with an early acquaintance with 
the Great Valley. The most western settlements of the Vir- 
ginians are marked in Evans's map of 1755 as that of J. 
Keeney at the junction of Greenbrier and New rivers, and 
Stahlmaker's house on the middle fork of the Holston River. 
These isolated outposts of the English were an exception to 
their habit of making one settlement support another. The 
English alleged, as set forth by Mitchell, that the French 
planted their posts " straggling up and down in remote and 
uncultivated deserts, in order thereby to seem to occupy a greater 
extent of territory, while in effect they hardly occujjy any at 
aU." 

The claims, then, of these rival contestants for the trans- Alle- 
ghany region, as they respectively advanced them at the time, 
may be thus put : — 

The English pretended to have secured their rights by a west- 
ward extension from the regions of their coast occu- 
pation, and down to 1763 they stubbornly maintained the rival 
this claim, though forced to strengthen it, first, by 
alleging certain sporadic, and sometimes doubtful and even dis- 
proved, wanderings of their people beyond the mountains ; and 
second, by deriving an additional advantage from professed 
rights ceded to them by the Iroquois. 

When the main grants to the Plymouth and London com- 

NoTE. The following map is from the Memoires des Commissaires du Eoi, etc., Paris, 1757, 
and represents what the French understood to be the pretensions of the English eea-to-sea char- 
ters. The heavy black lines indicate the north and south limits of Virginia and New England 
(1620) ; the heavy dots the 1662 charter of Carolina ; the lighter dots the extended Carolina 
charter of 1665 ; and the fine parallel lines the Georgia charter of 1732. The map also shows the 
supposed connection of the Mississippi and Lake Wiimipeg. 



322 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

panies were suj)erseded by less extensive allotments, this same 
sea-to-sea extension was constantly reinforced as far as itera- 
tion could do it. The provincial charter of Massachusetts, for 
instance, in confirming the earlier bounds, carried her limits 
west toward the South Sea. That of Virginia did the same, 
but with so clumsy a definition that the claims of Massachusetts 
and Virginia collided in the Ohio valley and beyond. 

The Congress at Albany, in 1754, reaffirmed this westward 
extension, but allowed that it had been modified north of the 
St. Lawrence only by concession to Canada under the treaty of 
Utrecht in 1713. A similar ground was assumed by Shirley at 
Paris, in 1755, when he met the French commissioners in an 
endeavor to reconcile their respective claims. 

The French, on the contraiy, derived their rights, in their 
opinion, from having been the first to traverse the Great Valley, 
and because they had made settlements at a few points ; and 
still more because they possessed and had settled about the 
mouth of the Great River. It was their contention that such a 
possession of the mouth of a main stream gave them jurisdic- 
tion over its entire water-shed in the interior, just as their pos- 
session of the outlet of the St. Lawrence gave to France the 
control of its entire basin. Upon this principle, Louis XIV. 
had made his concession to Crozat for mouojjolizing the trade 
of the Great Valley. 

These two grounds of national rights, the one arising from the 
possession of the coast and the other from occupation of a river 
mouth, were consequently at variance with each other. They 
were both in themselves preposterous, in the opinions of adver- 
saries, and both claimants were forced to abate their preten- 
sions. The English eventually conceded to France all west of 
the Mississippi. France by the arbitrament of war yielded, to 
one peoi)le or another, the water-sheds of both the Mississippi 
and the St. Lawrence, just as the United States at a later day, 
making a like claim for the entire valley of the Columbia River 
through the discovery of its mouth, were forced to be content 
with but a portion of their demand. 

There was another difference in the claims of the two con- 
testants which particularly affected their respective relations 
with the original occupants of the Great Valley. 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS. 323 

The French asserted possession against the heathen, but 
cared little for the territory except to preserve it for pg^ ^^^ 
the fur trade. They were not, consequently, despoil- 3""«diction. 
6rs of the savages' hunting-grounds. One to three square miles 
was estimated as each Indian's requirement for the chase. But, 
nevertheless, they seized such points as they wished, without 
thought of recompensing the savage owners. This prerogative 
of free appropriation the French persistently guarded. When, 
in 1751, La Jonquiere told the tribes on the Ohio that the 
French woidd not occupy their lands without their permission, 
he was rebuked by his home government, and Duquesne, his 
successor, was enjoined to undo the impression which La Jon- 
quiere had conveyed to the savages. 

On the other hand, the English pioneers, by their charters 
and patents, got a jurisdiction over, but not a fee in, the lands 
conveyed. In the practice which England established, or pro- 
fessed to establish, occupation could follow only upon the extin- 
guishment by purchase or treaty of the native title. 

Thus the Indian had exemplified to him, by these intruders, 
two diverse policies. He was inclined to the French T,,e Indians 
policy because it did not disturb his life, and drive him r,"ti'pou- 
away from his ancestral hunting-grounds. Duquesne *^"'^" 
was wont to tell the Indians that the French placing a fort on 
the tribe's lands did not mean the felling of forest and planting 
of fields, as it did with the English ; but that the French fort 
became only a convenient hunting-lodge for the Indian, with 
undisturbed game about it. 

The Indian was inclined to the English policy because it 
showed a recognition of his right to the soil, for which he could 
get cloth and trinkets and rum, if he chose to sell it. But he 
soon found that the clothes which he obtained wore out, the 
liquor was gone, and the baubles were worthless. The trans- 
action, forced upon him quite as often as voluntarily assumed, 
was almost sure to leave him for a heritage a contiguous settle- 
ment of farmholders, who felled the forests and drove away his 
buffalo. 

The savage was naturally much perplexed, between these rival 
methods, in determining which was most for his advantage. 
Accordingly, we find the aboriginal hordes over vast regions 



324 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

divided in allegiance, some preferring tlie Frencli and others the 
English, and neither part by any means constant to one side 
or the other. 

Moreover, these two diverse policies meant a good deal tb 
such disputants in the trial of strength between them. The 
French knew they were greatly inferior in numbers, but they 
counted on a better organization and a single responsible head, 
which induced celerity of movement, and this went a great 
way in overcoming their rival's weight of numbers. Joncaire 
boasted of this to Washington, when as a Virginian messenger 
he went to carry the warning of Dinwiddie. Pownall under- 
stood it, when he said that Canada did not consist of farms and 
settlements, as the English colonies did, but of forts and soldiers. 
" The English cannot settle and fight too," he adds. " They 
can fight as well as the French, but they must give over set- 
tling." Thus the two people, seeking to make the New World 
tributary to the Old, sought to help their rival claims by gain- 
ing over these native arbiters. It was soon seen that success 
for the one side or the other depended largely on holding the 
Indians fast in allegiance. 

The savage is always impressed by prowess. For many years, 
the French claimed his admiration through their military suc- 
cess, and the English often lost it by lack of such success. In 
personal dealing with the Indian, the French always had the 
advantage. They were better masters of wiles. They knew 
better how to mould the savage passions to their own purposes. 
With it all, they were always tactful, which the English were 
far from being. William Johnson, the astutest manager of the 
Indians the English ever had, kuew this thoroughly, and per- 
sistently tried to teach his countrymen the virtue of tact. It 
was not unrecognized among his contemporaries that Johnson's 
alliance with a sister of Brant, a Mohawk chief, had much to do 
with his influence among the Iroquois. 

" General Johnson's success," wrote Peter Fontaine, " was 
owing under God to his fidelity to the Indians and his generous 
conduct to his Indian wife, by whom he hath several hopefid 
sons, who are all war captains, the bulwark with him of the Five 
Nations, and loyal subjects to their mother country." This 
Htiguenot, Fontaine, traced much of the misery of frontier life 
to the failure of the Encflish to emulate the French in intermar- 



THE IROQUOIS. 325 

rying with the natives, and he, curiously rather than accurately, 
refers the absence of the custom to an early incident in Vir- 
ginia history ; " for when our wise politicians heard that Rolfe 
had married Pocahontas, it was deliberated in council whether 
he had not committed high treason by marrying an Indian 
princess ; and had not some troubles intervened which put a 
stop to the inquiry, the poor man might have been hanged up 
for doing the most just, the most natural, the most generous and 
politic action that ever was done this side of the water. This 
put an effectual stop to all intermarriages afterwards." 

Both French and English were not slow in discovering that 
among the American tribes the Iroquois were the chief The 
arbiters of savage destiny in North America. The ^'■°i"°'»- 
struggle of each rival was to secure the help of these doughty 
confederates. In the early years of the European occupation, 
the Dutch propitiated the Iroquois and the French provoked 
them. The English succeeded to the policy of the Hollanders, 
and the French long felt the enmity which Champlain had en- 
gendered. The Dutch and English could give more and better 
merchandise for a beaver-skin, and this told in the rivalry, not 
only for the friendship of the Iroquois, but for that of other 
and more distant tribes. This was a decided gain to the Eng- 
lish and as decided a loss to the French, and no one knew it 
better than the losing party. 

Throughout the dire struggle, the English never ceased for 
any long period to keep substantial hold of the Iroquois. 
There were defections. Some portions of the Oneidas and Mo- 
hawks were gained by the Jesuits, who settled their neophytes 
near Montreal. The Senecas were much inclined to be inde- 
pendent, and the French possession of Niagara and the arts of 
Joncaire helped their uncertainty. Every tribe of the United 
Council at Onondaga had times of indecision. But, on the 
whole, the English were conspicuously helped by the Iroquois 
allegiance, and they early used it to give new force to their 
claim for a westward extension. The country which the Iro- 
quois originally occupied was that portion of the State of New 
York south of its great lake, and their tribes were scattered 
through the valley of the Mohawk, along the water-shed of On- 
tario, and throughout the country holding the springs of the 



326 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

Susquehanna and the Alleghany. Fi*om the days of John 
Smith, the Susquehanna had been an mviting entrance to the 
interior from the Chesapeake, and Champlain's deputy, in 
1615, had found that it afforded a route to the sea from the 
Iroquois country. 

It was a dispute between the French and the English which 
of the two peoples first penetrated this Iroquois country. La 
Jonquiere, in 1751, claimed the priority for the French. There 
can be little question, however, that whatever right followed 
upon priority belonged to the Dutch, and by inheritance to the 
English. This was always the claim at Albany, and when 
the French seized upon Niagara, the English pronounced it an 
encroachment upon the Iroquois country, as, indeed, Charlevoix 
acknowledged it was. At the same time, the French contended 
that it was a part of the St. Lawrence valley, which was theirs 
by virtue of Cartier's and later discoveries. On this ground 
they also claimed the valley of Lake Champlain, and had ad- 
vanced to Crown Point in occupying it, though the Iroquois 
considered it within their bounds. 

So when the English seized Oswego, it was in the French 
view an usurpation of their rights, " the most flagrant and most 
pernicious to Canada." This sweeping assertion, transformed 
to a direct statement, meant that the possession of Oswego gave 
the English a superior hold on the Indians. It also offered 
them a chance to intercept the Indians in their trading jour- 
neys to Montreal. This advantage, as already indicated, was 
rendered greater by the English ability to give for two skins at 
Oswego as much as the French offered for ten at Niagai*a. De 
Lancey looked upon the English ability to do this as the strong- 
est tie by which they retained the Indians in their alliance. 
" Oswego," said the French, " gives us all the evils, without the 
advantages of war." Duquesne, in August, 1755, confessed 
that it was nothing, but a lack of pretext which prevented his 
attacking this English post. 

About the middle of the seventeenth century, the Iroquois 
The Iroquois ^^J couqucsts had puslicd a sort of feudal sway far 
conquests, ^eyoud their ancestral homes. They had destroyed 
the Hurons in the country west of the Ottawa. They had ex- 
terminated the Fries south of the lake of that name, and had 



THE IROQUOIS CONQUESTS. 327 

pushed their conquests at least as far as the Scioto, and held in 
vassalage the tribes still farther west. They even at times 
kept their enemies in terror well up to the Mississippi. Some- 
what in the same way they had caused their primacy to be felt 
along the Susquehanna. Their war parties were known to 
keep the fruitful region south of the Ohio in almost absolute 
desolation. 

The area included in these conquests is, perhaps, a moderate 
estimate of what the English meant by the Iroquois claim. As 
early as 1697, the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, in 
formulating the English rights to sovereignty over the Iroquois, 
asserted something larger in saying that these confederates held 
" in tributary subjection all the neighboring Indians, and went 
sometimes as far as the South Sea, the Northwest Passage, and 
Florida, as well as over that part of the country now called 
Canada." Mitchell, in 1755, claimed that by the conquest of 
the Shawnees in 1672, the Iroquois acquired whatever title the 
original occupiers of the Ohio valley had, and that their eon- 
quest of the Illinois carried their rights beyond the Mississippi. 

The English turned these Iroquois conquests to their advan- 
tage by assuming that the regions covered by this supremacy 
fell to their jurisdiction as one of the considerations of their 
alliance with the confederates. This pretension, in its most 
arrogant form, allowed there was no territory not under Iro- 
quois control east of the Mississippi, unless it was the region 
of the south, where, with equal complacency, the English used 
their friendship with the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Creeks 
to cover all the territory of the modern Gidf States, with a 
bordering region north of them. In Huske's English map of 
1755, even this territory of the southern tribes is made tribu- 
tai'y to tlie Iroquois, as well as all east of the Mississippi and 
the Illinois and Lake Michigan, and of a line thence to the 
upper waters of the Ottawa. 

Note. The map on the following pages is from Bowen' and Gibson's North America, London, 
1763. The upper section shows the country of the Illinois, Mascoutins, Miamis, Twightwees, all 
a part of the conquered country of the Iroquois, which is made to extend from the northern 
shore of Lake Huron to West Florida, its western limits being defined by the Mississippi as far 
north as the Illinois, along which the "pecked line" runs to Lake Michigan and then north, so as 
to include the " Messesagues " on the northern shore of Lake Huron. The under section shows 
the basin of the Ohio, and places the position of the Chickasaws and Catawbas. The present 
Tennessee River (called liere Cherakee, etc.) was the route of the Cherokees from the mountains 
to the Jlississippi, but tlie origin of placing on maps their country along its course was tlie desire 
to profit by an alleged claim for that tribe, pressed by their English allies, to strengtlien tlie 
English claim to a westward extension. 



330 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

In pusliing their conquests to tlie Illinois, the Iroquois claimed, 
„, ^ ,. ^ as Pownall tells us, that they warred upon these dis- 

The English . 

claim. tant savages because it was necessary to protect the 

beaver, which the Illinois were exterminating. There was little 
reason for so benign an excuse, for the ravages of the con- 
federates were simply prompted by an inherent martial spirit. 
So distinguished a student of their career as Mr. Horatio Hale 
is inclined to give them a conspicuously beneficent character, 
which, however, hardly met the approval of a more famous stu- 
dent, the late Francis Parkman. 

This Iroquois-English claim had distinguished advocates in 
Golden, Franklin, and Pownall, but there was some abatement 
at times in its pretensions. Sir William Johnson, in 1763, 
traced the line of this dependent country along the Blue Kidge, 
back of Virginia to the head of the Kentucky River ; down that 
current to the Ohio above the falls ; thence to the south end of 
Lake Michigan ; along its eastern shore to Mackinac ; and north- 
east to the Ottawa, and down that river to the St. Lawrence. 
The right of the English king to such a territory as this dated 
back, as the English claimed, to an alleged deed of sale in. 
1701, when the Iroquois ceded these hunting-grounds to English 
jurisdiction, in addition to their ancestral lands. It was, as 
they claimed, a title supplementing that of their sea-to-sea char- 
ters. When the French cited the treaty of Ryswick (1697) as 
giving them sway over the river basins where they held the 
mouths, and claimed this as paramount to any rights the Iroquois 
could bestow, the English fell back on these territorial charters 
as the most ancient and valid claim of all. 

If the English charter claims were jareposterous, this supple- 
mental one was, in even some part of contemporary opinion, 
equally impudent and presumptuous. There was by no means 
an undivided sentiment among the colonists upon this point ; 
and history has few more signal instances of tergiversation than 
when, at a later day, the English government "virtually acknow- 
ledged the justice of the French claim in urging the passage 
(1774) of the Quebec Bill. " We went to war," said Towns- 
hend, in the debates on this bill, " calling it Virginia, which 
you now claim as Canada." 

We read in Franklin's statement, in 1765, before the Stamp 
Act Committee, that the Virginia Assembly seriously questioned 



THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. 331 

the right of the king to the territory in dispute. George Cro- 
ghan, on the contrary, in a communication to Secretaiy Peters 
of Pennsylvania, wondered how anybody conld doubt that the 
French on the Alleghany were encroaching upon the charter 
limits of Pennsylvania. 

The French were more unanimous in their view ; but it was 
only gradually that they worked up to a full expression of it. 
Bellin, the map-maker for Charlevoix, had drawn in his early 
drafts the limits of New France more modestly than the French 
government grew to maintain, and he was soon instructed to 
fashion his maps to their largest claims. In like manner the 
earliest English map-makers slowly came to the pitch of audacity 
which the politicians stood for, and Bollan, in 1748, comj^lained 
that Popple (1732), Keith (1733), Oldmixon (1741), Moll 
(at several dates), and Bowen (1747) had been recusant to 
English interests. It was not till Mitchell produced his map 
in 1755 that the most ardent claimant for English rights was 
satisfied. 

The instructions of Duquesne, in 1752, say that " 't is certain 
that the Iroquois have no rights on the Ohio, and the -jhe French 
pretended rights through them of the English is a '^®""''" 
chimera." In the negotiations of the treaty of Utrecht, in 
1713, the English had succeeded in getting an admission from 
the French which required all the resources of French diplo- 
macy to qualify. This was an acknowledgment of the English 
sovereignty over the Iroquois. The French at a later day, when 
they felt better able to enforce their views, sniffed at the obli- 
gation, and called the phrase " a simple enunciation " in words 
of no binding significance, — a summary way of looking at an 
obligation which could demolish any contract. When they 
condescended to explain what they sniffed at, they insisted that 
the Iroquois themselves never acknowledged such a subjection. 
Sir William Johnson was frank enough to call the connection 
of the English and Iroquois one of alliance rather than sub- 
jection. The French further pointed out what was true, that 
the Iroquois did not always consider it necessary to consult the 
English when making treaties or declaring war. Again, when 
forced to other explanations, the French maintained that the 
subjection of the Iroquois in their persons did not carry sover- 



332 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

elgnty over their lands. If it did, tliey said, the Iroquois who 
occvipy lands at Caughuawaga would be equally subject in 
land and person, and that would involve the absurdity of yield- 
ing to the English jurisdiction territory at the very gates of 
Montreal. 

There was another clause in this treaty of Utrecht which the 
The Indian Frcncli Were hard put to interpret to their advan- 
trade. tagc. This was the clause by which the French ac- 

knowledged the English right to trade with all Indians. The 
minutes of instruction given to Duquesne show how this was 
interpreted. " The English may pretend that we are bound by 
the treaty of Utrecht to permit the Indians to trade with them ; 
but it is sure that nothing can oblige us to allow this trade on 
our own lands." This, in the light of the French claim to the 
water-sheds of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, would 
debar the English from trading at Oswego and on the Ohio. 

In 1726, by a treaty made on September 14, and which Gov- 
ernor Pownall prints in his Administration of the Colonies^ 
the English had secured a fresh recognition by the Iroquois of 
their guardianship over them. By this compact the Senecas, 
Cayugas, and Onondagas, falling in with the concessions of the 
Mohawks and Oneidas in 1684, surrendered a tract from Os- 
wego to Cuyahoga (Cleveland), with an extent inland of sixty 
miles. 

A score of years and more passed thereafter before the 
French became fully sensible that they must forcibly contest 
their claim to the Ohio. By this time their plan had fully 
ripened of connecting Canada and Louisiana by a chain of posts, 
and of keeping the English on the seaward side of the Alle- 
ghanies. In this, they were convinced, lay a riper future for 
New France rather than in crossing the Mississippi and dis- 
puting sovereignty with the Spaniard. This accomplished, they 
hoped to offer a barrier against the English effective enough to 
prevent their wresting from Spain the silver mines beyond the 
Mississippi. 

The French had always claimed priority on the Ohio, antl 
when Celoron was sent in 1749 to take formal possession 

Note. The opposite map is from Mitchell's Map of the British Colonies (1755). It shows the 
Wabash country, and gives the contemporary cl.>ims as to the Iroquois rights. 



334 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

along its banks, by hanging royal insignia on trees and bury- 
outhe ^'^S' graven plates in the soil, that officer professedly 

Ohio. made " a renewal of possession of the Ohio and all its 

afflnents," — a possession originally established " by arms and 
treaties, particularly those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix-la- 
Chapelle." There was urgency for such a " renewal," for Ce- 
loron found that the English were already in possession of the 
country, so far as the friendly sanction of the natives signified 
it. Thus, the Iroquois claim to that extent had proved effec- 
tive, and Golden has distinctly expounded it in his History 
of the Five Nations. It was also clearly traced in maps by 
Jefferys in 1753, and by Mitchell and Huske in 1755. 

It was, therefore, a necessity for the French to use force, if 
they were to make good their claims by holding the valley. 
Accordingly, we find, in 1751, La Jonquiere instructed " to 
drive from the Beautiful River [Ohio] any European foreigners, 
and in a manner of expulsion which should make them lose all 
taste for trying to return." With the usual French diplomatic 
reservation, that governor was further enjoined " to observe, not- 
withstanding, the cautions practicable in such matters." 

There is a Memoir e of 1751 which sets forth the French 
anxiety lest the English, by securing a post on the Ohio, should 
be able to keep the Indians in alienation from the French. 
Such Englisli success would mean a danger to French commu- 
nications with the settlers on the Mississippi, who stood in par- 
ticular need of Canadian assistance in the war which was waged 
against them by the Carolina Indians, instigated by the English 
there. Without such a bar to their progress as the French 
possession of the Ohio, the English could easily advance, not 
only upon the French posts among the Illinois, but they could 
endanger the portage of the Miami, which was the best route 
from Canada, and which if lost might involve the abandonment 
of Detroit. 

The conclusion of this complaint is twofold : Detroit must be 
strengthened by a farming ])opulation about it for its support, 
in order to preserve it as the best place to overawe the con- 
tinent. The Illinois country must be protected; its buffalo 
trade fostered ; that animal's wool made marketable ; and the 
custom of salting its flesh prevail so that the necessity of de- 
pending oulMartinico for meat be avoided. 



NEGOTIATIONS. 335 

The movement of the French on the Alleghany in 1754 had 
put an end to temporizing. Albemarle, who was Eng- -^^^ ^j^^ 
land's ambassador at Paris, was a butterfly and a '■®^"^*' 
reprobate, and he was little calculated to mend matters, now 
easily slipping from bad to worse. 

A tough and sturdy young Yankee, then keeping school in 
Worcester, Mass., John Adams by name, represented the rising 
impatience of the colonists, who had not forgotten their yeoman 
service at Louisbourg. He looked forward to the complete 
expulsion of " the turbulent Gallicks ! " 

The year 1755 opened with events moving rapidly. In Jan- 
uary, France proposed to leave matters as they were and let 
commissioners settle the dispute in details. England in re- 
sponse fell back on the treaty of Utrecht. In February, France 
proposed as a substitute that all east of the mountains should 
belong to England, and all west of the Alleghany River and 
north of the Ohio should fall to France. This left as neutral 
territory the slope from the mountains to the Alleghany and the 
region south of the Ohio. In March, England assented to this, 
provided the French would destroy their posts on the Alleghany 
and Ohio. This would make a break in the French cordon con- 
necting Canada with the Mississippi, and would give the English 
an advantage in the control of the neutral country. So France 
refused the terms. In June, England again resorted to the 
conditions of Utrecht, and insisted on the validity of the Iro- 
quois claim. France reiterated her denial of such a claim as 
regards the territory, but acknowledged it in respect to persons 
of the confederates. England insisted, as well she might, that 
this was not the interpretation put upon similar provisions in 
other treaties. Her ministers now reminded Braddock of this 
provision in the treaty of 1 726, and instructed him to act accord- 
ingly. This brought the business to the pitch of war, though 
l)oth sides hesitated to make a declaration. Galissonniere held 
it to be the testimony of all maps that France was right in her 
claim, and her possession of what she strove for was now to be 
settled by sterner methods. 

Danville and the other French map-makers had been brought 
to representations that kept Galissonniere's statement 
true. The English cartographers had done equally ohiocoun- 
well for their side, and Mitchell could be cited to ad- '^^" 



336 THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR NORTH AMERICA. 

vantage. His Maj) of the BrHtish and French Dominions in 
North America was based on documents which the English 
Board of Trade thought best enforced their claim, and the pub- 
lication, when made, in 1755, was dedicated to their secretary. 
In an accompanying text the English claim was pushed to its 
utmost, and every old story was revamped which served to 
bolster pretensions of the English preceding the French in 
exploring the country, reviving the antiquated boast that New 
Engianders had even preceded the French in crossing the Mis- 
sissippi, and had really furnished the guides for La Salle's 
discoveries. 

Perhaps the best knowledge which was attainable at this day 
of the valley of the Ohio had been reached by Christopher Gist, 
who, in his wandering, had corrected the supposed curves and 
trends of that river. Lewis Evans, in June, 1750, made his 
proposals to visit and map the country under disguise as a 
trader, and in the pay of the province of Pennsylvania. His 
map of the British Jlicidle Colonies was published at Phila- 
delphia just in time to be of use to Braddoek. Washington 
later said of it that, " considering the early period, it was done 
with amazing exactness." The governor of Pennsylvania was 
satisfied that Evans had mapped the Alleghanies correctly, and 
contended that this new draft showed how much would be lost 
if the English made these mountains their bounds. 

Of the country in dispute, Evans's map in one of its legends 
represents : " Were nothing at stake," it reads, " between the 
crown of Great Britain and France but the lands in the Ohio, 
we may reckon it as great a prize as has ever been contended 
for between two nations, for this country is of that vast extent 
westward as to exceed in good land all the European dominions 
of Great Britain, France, and Spain, and which are almost 
destitute of inhabitants. It is impossible to conceive, had his 
Majesty been made acquainted with its value and great impor- 
tance, and the huge strides the French have been making for 
several years past in their encroachments on his dominions, that 
his Majesty would sacrifice one of the best gems in his crown 
to their usurpation and boundless ambition." 

The opinion of James Maiiry, that whoever was left at the 
end of the war in possession of the Lakes and the Ohio would 
control the continent, was not, at this time, an unfamiliar one 



THE RESULTS. 337 

in the public mind. It was, moreover, not unconnected with 
the belief that in the time to come a route west by the Hudson 
or the Potomac, connecting with these vaster water-ways of the 
interior, would make some point on the Atlantic coast " the 
grand emporium of all East Indian commodities." We have 
lived to see the prophecy verified, but by other agencies. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 1754. 

War existed, and there had been no declaration of hostilities. 
In the autumn of 1754, there was anxiety all along the harrier 
country. 

Of the 190,000 whites now composing the population of 
Population Pennsylvania, more than half were Germans. They 
vai^a""^^' were a gregarious, industrious people. They had been 
scoteh"^' little accustomed in their European past to the kind 
English. q£ freedom which they enjoyed in the American wilds. 
They brought with them to the New World the homely life of 
the Old. Their existence was invested with a certain pictur- 
esqueness of light and shade, in the broidery which the modern 
student calls folk-lore. It rendered them superstitious rather 
than imaginative. Franldin could give them no more attrac- 
tive name than " Palatine boors," for they had mainly come 
from the Palatinate. 

As compared with the English and Scotch, they had little of 
that adventurous hardihood which subdues the earth under all 
conditions. The Scotch particularly had been far less soli- 
citous about the soil they sought. Boswell tells us that wheji 
Arthur Lee once spoke of a colony of Scotch in Virginia, who 
had settled upon a sterile tract, Dr. Johnson assured him that 
the Scoti;Ji would not know the land to be barren. 

If the Germans had better instincts as agriculturists, they 
were far less prompt to defend their lands than their Scotch 
neighbors. Sharpe of Maryland said they were too apathetic to 
bestir themselves against an enemy, unless war was at their very 
doors. As settlers, therefore, side by side with the Scotch-Irish, 
the confused mixture of blood formed an incongruous commu- 
nity when to the German phlegm was added the passionate 
temper and immovable prejudice of the Celt. This ethnic in- 
compatibility had indeed become so obvious, that of late those 



DINWIDDIE. 339 

who controlled the settling immigrants in the province had en- 
deavored to keep the Teutonic element as much as possible in 
the east, letting the more active Scotch-Irish appropriate the 
country toward the west. 

There were political considerations also which obtruded upon 
the prudent, when it was considered what violent German 
haters o£ papists the Scotch were, and what unbending and'the'^ 
sectaries the German Catholics were. Dinwiddie, a ^'■''"^*^- 
Scot himself, expressed solicitude at this influx of German Cath- 
olics, and Franklin discloses a prevalent fear when he says : 
"The French, who watch all advantages, are now themselves 
making a German settlement back of us in the Illinois country, 
and by means of these Germans they may in time come to 
an understanding with ours ; and indeed, in the last war, our 
Germans showed a general disposition that seemed to bode us 
no good." At Fredericton, on the Maryland frontier, a Ger- 
man colony had been recently increased by many French from 
Alsace and Lorraine, not without raising a suspicion that some 
of them taken prisoners by the French from the Ohio would 
prove useful to the foe as informers and spies upon the English. 
In fact, there had already begun to be the apprehension, which 
Burke later expresses, that Pennsylvania at least might be 
eventually lost to the English by the vast preponderance of its 
alien races. 

It had been a condition of Washington's capitulation at Fort 
Necessity that the English would not for a year erect 

, . *,. , c ^ • Dinwiddie 

any buildings on the western slope of the mountains, and the 

.... • . . French. 

Dinwiddie, with the same blunt indifference to obliga- 
tions which made him abandon the hostages which Washington 
gave, had no intention to abide by such terms. His self-will 
was greater when he heard by rumor that the French intended 
to build forts on the Greenbrier, Holston, and New rivers in 
what is now eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. The story 
went that they intended to bring up for this purpose a force 
from the Mississippi. Sharpe had heard similar reports, and 
was transmitting them to Calvert, his English master. All 
this served to irritate Dinwiddie, and he gave his House of Bur- 
gesses a touch of his spleen when he prorogued them on Sep- 
tember 5. " I thank God," he said, " I have never before 



340 THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 1754. 

had to do with such wrong-headed people." The fact was, they 
had pointedly foiled him in some of his plans, particularly in 
refusing- to support parties of observation, which the governor 
had wished to send toward Duquesne, so as to he ready for 
prompt action in the spring, before Contrecoeur could be rein- 
forced. 

Dinwiddle, though of a stubborn and rather narrow nature, 
was by no means destitute of prevision, and had a clear percep- 
tion of what the maintenance of English power on the Ohio 
demanded. While he was endeavoring to force or cajole his 
assembly into action, he was communicating with De Lancey 
of New York, and with no very clear sense of the geographi- 
cal possibilities, was expecting him to prevent relief parties of 
the French j^assing Oswego. Turning to his nearer neighbor, 
Sharpe of Maryland, he urged him to occupy one of the moun- 
tain passes and stand ready at that point to push a force into 
the valley at a moment to be agreed ujjon. It was Sharpe's be- 
lief that the weather would prevent the French reinforcement 
reaching Contrecoeur before the beginning of April, and that 
to secure a pass was about all that could be done. Croghan 
had already reported on the information of an Indian that re- 
cruits were even thus early coming to Fort Duquense at the 
rate of two hundred a day. " This Indian is to be believed, if 
there can be any credit given to what an Indian says," was 
Croghan' s assurance. 

As the autumn advanced (1754), the feeling improved. A 
Western ^^^ families at Draper's Meadows — the modern 
Autumnr*^" Smithficld — had ventured to push forward and settle 
i"54. ^ygg^ q£ ^g^ River. The House of Burgesses in Octo- 

ber voted X20,000, and Dinwiddle took courage. Sharpe was 
beffinnincr also to take heart. He even cherished a scheme of a 
winter attack on Duquesne, with the hope of seizing an island 
near by and fortifying it as a base for further operations in the 
spring. The stories which he heard of the French intention of 
harrying the frontier during the winter made him more eager. 
In December, he wrote to Dinwiddle that eleven hundred French 
and seventy Adirondacks were already at Duquesne, while a 
force said to nmnber four hundred French and two hundred 
Caughnawagas and Ottawas were preparing to join them. He 
had also heard that three hundred French families were taking 



THE HALF-KING. 341 

home lots among the Twightwees at the remoter end of Lake 
Erie. The governor of Pennsylvania was repeating similar 
stories to his assembly, hoping thereby to lift them from their 
apathy. The entire force of French now available for the next 
campaign was thought to be two thousand, white and red. 
With such stories the public mind was filled. But the Quaker 
and German elements in Pennsylvania listened with little 
emotion, and the assembly, or at least some part of it, dared to 
inquire if the Indians did not own this territory, which they 
were asked to protect. At least, they said, it concerned the 
king and not them, for the Board of Trade map showed that it 
was beyond their charter bounds. 

The signs of a violent rupture with the Delawares, Shawnees, 
and Munseys were becoming apparent. We possess Rupture with 
in Charles Thomson's Enquiry a dispassionate contem- ti^e Indians. 
porary account of the colonial tergiversations which had pro- 
voked these tribes. The friends of colonial honor cannot to-day 
read it with complacency, nor without a measure of sympathy 
with Teedyuscung, the chieftain, who was endeavoring to right 
the native wrongs. At this juncture, the Indian leader called 
the Half-King died, and the English lost in him a good Haif-Kiug 
mediator. His dying was attributed to what was ^^^^' 
called " French witchcraft ; " but Governor Morris discredited 
the charge, and with good reason. The last scene occurred at 
Paxton on October 4, 1754, and Croghan was soon recording 
that he was endeavoring " to wipe away the Indian tears by 
presents to the amount of X20." 

Governor Morris was having quite as weary a time with the 
Pennsylvania Assembly as Dinwiddie had had with his 

TT' T f • 1 • 11' ThePenn- 

burgesses. His distant friends commiserated him. syivania 
Shirley wrote from Boston : " I have no leaf in my book 
for managing a Quaker Assembly. If I had it should be at 
your service." His predecessor Thomas, now at Antigua, wrote : 
" You must either drive the French back to their lakes or they 
will drive you into the sea ; and if the northern colonies do not 
speedily unite they will carry their point " in securing an Atlan- 
tic port. For years the French had longed for this -phe French 
Atlantic harbor to relieve their wintry imprisonment iuantlc 
on the ice-bound St. Lawrence. Morris was perhaps p""^*' 



342 THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 175^. ■ 

less inclined than tlie neigliboring governors to belittle the ob- 
stacles in view, for he rather credulously believed that the 
French had already gathered five or six thousand regulars at 
Duquesne. Croghan was sending him word that the 
and the Ohio Indians were ready to assist an English expedi- 
tion, but they would only do so on the English sujjply- 
ing clothing and other necessaries to their squaws and children. 
Croshan seemed loth to believe that the dissatisfaction of the 
Indians was widespread ; but he was conscious that the French 
blandishments had done much. No doubt a part of the savage 
uneasiness was traceable to the backwardness of the English 
movements, for the Indian is taken with quick and bold deter- 
mination. Accordingly, Croghan urged upon the Pennsylvania 
authorities to draw the tribes over the mountains and settle 
them along the Susquehanna, where they could be more easily 
Conrad watchcd and supported. (Conrad Weiser had already 
weiser. bccu workiug to this end among the Ohio Indians, and 
had counseled them to settle at Aughwick, east of the divide. He 
quickly formulated for the governor a speech in which the sav- 
ages were told that " after the king of Great Britain had tried 
all fair means to remove the French from their Ohio forts, he 
would take his foes by the arm and fling them across the lake 
wdiere they came from." 

In December (1754), notwithstanding a speech " calcidated 

to rouse his assembly from their supineness," Mor- 

nia votes ris wrotc to Diuwiddic that he had not been able to 

induce them to vote a single farthing ; but within ten 

days he adds a postscript, to say that the legislature had at last 

voted £5000 " to help his Majesty's forces." 

Farther south, the governor of North Carolina was waxing 
North caro- wami in liis dealings with his assembly. He told 
''"^' them that the French, being unable in Europe to over- 

power the House of Austria, had turned to America in the 
hopes of dividing its magnificent spaces with Spain for the 
benefit of the House of Bourbon. He had much to saj'' of 
" hellish missionaries " stirring up the Indians ; of the seizing 
of strategic jioints on the Ohio and Mississippi, and of " schemes 
hatched in hell and supported by the court of Rome." He 
ended by an appeal to the colonies to unite and drive their foes 
to " inhospitable Canada and the hot sands of Louisiana." 



THE CONGRESS OF ALBANY. 343 

Early in the summer of 1754, it was hoped that a movement 
had been inaugurated which would have brought a Hopes of 
more confident spirit to grace the closing year. This English ^"^^ 
was to follow the fruition of a scheme for uniting; the '^''^"■"ea- 
English colonies in a political bond. For a long time, schemes 
of union had been in the air, and they embodied a general pro- 
pitiation of the Indians and a combination to check the French. 
The proposers generally had small thought of the effect which 
such a union might have on the mother country, but the home 
government could hardly be counted upon for a like indifference. 

To manage the Indians as the custom went required money 
and the practice of some virtues, with a due appor- 
tionment of the vices of deceit and cajolery. Neither mentoftiie 
French nor English lacked in a selfish emulation in 
these respects. Governor Osborne of New York had, in 1753, 
brought over from England thirty silver medals, showing the 
stolid head of George III. By using these to decorate the lead- 
ing chiefs of the Iroquois and remoter tribes, it was hoped to 
appease them. There was need of this, especially among the 
Onondagas and Senecas, whom the French were craftily en- 
ticing. On the other hand, Duquesne and Piquet were by no 
means sure of all the vagrants who had sought the mission of 
La Presentation, since among the seeming neophytes they much 
suspected there were spies of the English. 

In the autumn of 1753, the governor of New York had received 
a circular from the home government, directing him ^ congress 
to call a meeting of commissioners from the several '^^^^^'^' 
colonies at Albany to take existing affairs under consideration. 
Governor Shirley of Massachusetts had come back Governor 
from Europe after his futile services in Paris in try- ^^"'■^'^y- 
ing to settle differences with the French. He had brought with 
him a young Catholic wife, daughter of his landlady in Paris, 
to introduce her with considerable hazard into the conservative 
social circles of Boston. This town had, indeed, lost a good 
deal of its Puritanic rigor, but it had gained little in admiration 
of " French Papists." There was some fear that Shirley's ad- 
herence to Protestant and English views might prove to be 
somewhat weakened. It did not take long, it proved, to dispel 
the suspicion, and it seems to have been at Shirley's instigation 



344 THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 1754. 

that these orders for the Albany convocation were issued. 
Among the colonists there grew a prevalent opinion that if any 
union was consummated, Shirley was the fittest man to preside 
over it. 

The meeting was fixed for June 14, 1754, but it was the 19th 
The con- bcforc the delegates assembled. They came from 
Sbany* Ncw Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
june, n&i. necticut. New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. 
Conspicuous among them was William Johnson of New York, 
whose success in dealing with the Indians was everywhere recog- 
nized. Not less influential was Thomas Hutchinson of Massa- 
chusetts, a stickler for the royal prerogative, but who deserved 
well of his province for having led it out of the sloughs of an 
irredeemable paper currency. Stephen Hopkins of Rhode 
Island and Roger Wolcott of Connecticut were men of mark. 
Most conspicuous of all, however, was Benjamin Franklin of 
Pennsylvania. 

The questions before them were manifold, and that of concili- 
Questions atiug tlic Indians was to many minds paramount. The 
considered. Lords of Trade had not long before administered a 
rebuke to the New York Assembly for its neglect of oppor- 
tunities to this end. This neglect was now showing fruits in 
the unamiable mood which the assembled Indians evinced. 
Promises had been given out that there would be a distribution 
of gifts, which was usually sure to increase the savage follow- 
ing in case of conferences. The announcement, however, had 
had no very marked effect at this time, and the commissioners 
reckoned it a "melancholy consideration " that scarce a hundred 
and fifty Indians appeared. But there was a conspicuous chief- 
tain among them in Hendrick the Mohawk, whose eloquence 
made a mark. 
. " You have thrown us behind your backs," said the savage 
to the assembly, " and disregard us, whereas the 

Hendrick ._^ i i i • m i • 

tiie Moi.awk t rcuch are a subtle and vigilant people, ever using 

and otlier . . - - i 5? mi 

speech- tlicir utiiiost ciidcavor to seduce our people. Ihe 
Mohawk spokesman taunted the English with not get- 
ting new permissions to build in the Indian territory, as they 
had done when they built their trading-house at Oswego. He 
told them they were women in not preparing, like the French, 
for the inevitable war. 




[From Charles Thomson's Enquiry, etc.] 



346 THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 1754. 

Other chiefs did not avoid a plain truth when thej charged 
the traders at Albany with selling powder and ball to the 
French, to be used against the English and their Indian allies 
on the Ohio. The traders at Oswego, they further alleged, 
were supplying the Montreal merchants with goods to sell to 
the remoter tribes. These allegations were truer than the Eng- 
lish would acknowledge. Nor would they allow that the lands 
wrested by professed treaty from the Shawnees and Delawares 
were attained by artifice, and without the knowledge of the 
tribes on the soil. 

This violated territory lay westward of a line running from 
Shamokin — the forks of the Susquehanna — in a northwest 
by north direction to Lake Erie. It was thus the intention 
of the buyers to secure an Indian fee in what remained unpur- 
chased of the charter limits of Pennsylvania, though no consid- 
eration was to be given till it was taken up by settlements, 
section by section. The grant was made under deceit and 
pressure by unauthorized representatives of the Six Nations, 
and covered lands to which other tribes had a better right. The 
Disputed fraud was so transparent that the Iroquois Grand 
land titles. Couucil at Ououdaga refused to confirm it. This injus- 
tice had led to the confederated movement under Teedyuscung, 
and Johnson urged that nothing short of a revocation of the 
claim could assuage the savage irritation at the despoilment. 

This was complicated with other claims, by which Connecticut 
Connecticut bccamc tlic rival of Pennsylvania under her sea-to-sea 
claims. charter, as against the interposed grant to William 

Penn. To a similar interposed grant to the Duke of York, 
Connecticut had bowed without much difficulty ; but she had, 
in 1753, chartered the Susquehanna Company, with seven hun- 
dred members, mostly her own people. They wei'e to take 
possession of the Wyoming lands within the Pennsylvania lim- 
its, but not as yet occupied by that province. Governor Ham- 
ilton had made a protest to the governor of Connecticut, and 
had asked Johnson to interfere, when it became evident that 
the agents of the Susquehanna Company were going to take 
advantage of the assembly of tribes at Albany to consummate 
a purchase of the Indian title. These agents succeeded in get- 
ting the Indians to sign a cession on July 11, and if the Penn- 
sylvania representatives are to be believed, it was done by mak- 



FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 347 

ing the grantors drunk, an act not more nefarious than some of 
their own performances when the Quaker province, or its mas- 
ters, coveted the Indian lands. This transfer, the ground of 
long litigation between the two claimants, included the Wyo- 
ming valley, and extended westward to the sources of the Alle- 
ghany, and stretched from latitude 41° to 42°. 

Thus the Indian problem, by the cupidity of distant Con- 
necticut, was becoming more emba^rrassing on the Ohio, through 
the forced immigration of the Pennsylvania Indians over the 
eastern barrier of the Great Valley. 

The settling of the vexed question of the relations with the 
savages was closely connected with that other prob- union of 
lem which the conference was more confidently ex- coLukis^'* 
pected to solve, and this was the presenting of an p''°p°'*^*^- 
indomitable front to the French by the banding together of the 
Atlantic colonies. 

It is not easy to reach a positive conclusion as to the numeri- 
cal strength of the rivals now struggling to usurp con- ^^^^^ 
trol of a continent. It is certain that the French populations. 
were far more homogeneous ; in fact, they were almost perfectly 
so. The English colonies, on the other hand, had been the 
refuge of the hunted Huguenot and the down-trodden German. 
There were few of the uneasy hordes of Europe which had not 
sent over their discontents. It is probable that the population 
of the Atlantic slope subject to the British monarch reached 
some twelve or thirteen hundred thousand, and possibly it may 
have reached a million and a half. The French, in all their 
posts and settlements from Acadia to the Mexican gulf, num- 
bered not over ninety thousand, perhaps not more than eighty, 
of which there may have been twenty-five thousand too far 
distant from the Ohio country to be of much account in the 
struggle. These remoter settlements were near the St. Law- 
rence and Mexican gulfs. 

With this great disparity between the two peoples, the French 
had relied on a unity of organization and celerity of movement 
to make them oftener than otherwise, in the past, superior to 
their rivals. To offset this, the English had found the alliance 
of the Indians not always sure, and sometimes treacherous. The 
last resort was to make a combination of power which could be 



348 THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 115!^. 

wielded with sometliing of the singleness of purpose which had 
so long served the French. 

Franklin easily led the deliberations of the congress in this 
Franklin's rcspect. He did not decry the English rights under 
the" on*^^ '" their sea-to-sea charters ; but he saw the practical 
gress. disadvantages of these illimitable western extensions 

with a comparatively contracted front on the coast. The shape 
of these colonies, he said, was " inconvenient for the common 
purposes of government," and he urged that the Alleghanies be 
accepted at once as the western bounds of the existing colonies. 
He urges the Tliis was to pavc the way for new colonies to be set 
wiS^ °^ up as military barriers beyond the mountains, — bul- 
coionies. warks, indeed, against the French. He had first learned 
in Boston, thirty years before, how to use the press in fashion- 
ing public opinion, and it served him now. He advocated in a 
pamphlet the planting of one of these colonies on Lake Erie, 
PownaU's ^^^ ^'^ otlicr ou tlic Ohio. Governor Pownall's views, 
views. jj^g later develoj)ed, were much the same in spirit ; but 

while he centred the western defense in a single colony, — pre- 
ferably an Indian one dependent on the English, — he urged a 
second on the upper Connecticut as needful for the protection 
of New England. But Franklin's desire for a double colony to 
the west was to make them converge like a wedge, and cleave 
the French cordon of posts which united Canada and the Mis- 
sissippi. Of these two barrier colonies, he would have the one 
on Lake Erie depend for supplies on Pennsylvania by the passes 
to the Alleghany River, while the other, on the Ohio near the 
Scioto, would naturally maintain its communications by the 
Kanawha with Virginia. The scheme also involved a good fort 
at Niagara and a flotilla on the Lakes, so as to maintain an 
ingress by the Iroquois country. 

The evil of allowing the French to succeed in their plans 
FrankUu's appealed to Franklin strongly on the social side. He 
'^'®"'*' could but think that developed French colonies over 

the mountains would be sure to offer an asylum to outcasts 
and runaway servants from the English, and increase an inim- 
ical and neighboring population. He wrote to "Whitefield that 
he hoped he might be able, if his plan succeeded, to settle 
a religious and industrious people in these colonial outposts, 



RESULTS OF THE CONGRESS. 349 

and to bring a new and healthy influence upon the Indians. The 
packmen, he contended, had so far proved a vicious company, 
and demoralized the tribes by carrying as servants into the 
wiklerness a multitude of transported Irish and other 
convicts. Not much that was better could be said of and fron- 
many of the frontiersmen in their isolated cabins. 



tiersmen. 



aud other 
lans con- 
trasted. 



It was apparent that Franldin's plan of barrier colonies 
promised more effective administration than any other prankim'f 
yet advanced. A scheme which Archibald Kennedy p"^^ 
had suggested in 1752 was deficient in concentrated 
force. He would have allotment of the over-mountain lands 
made by established proportions among the existing colonies. 
He proposed to lay out the territory in townships after the 
New England pattern. They were to be large enough to sup- 
port sixty families each, with occasional forts for protection, 
while the Indian trade should be regulated by a general au- 
thority. But all such western combinations were necessarily 
subordinated to a comprehensive plan, by which the entire 
Atlantic seaboard could act in harmony for military results. 

Dinwiddle was in favor of two unions, one at the north, the 
other at the south. Few, however, could see that the protec- 
tion of western pioneers could be so weU assured by any sever- 
ance of the colonies as by some grand union of them all. 
Franklin's ideas on the whole prevailed, and the proposed union 
gave its government the power to regulate the Indian trade ; to 
buy for the crown aU lands not within the bounds of estab- 
lished colonies, " or that shall not be within their bounds when 
some of them are reduced to more convenient dimensions ; " to 
make new settlements on such lands by grants in the king's 
name, reserving a quit-rent to the crown for the general treas- 
ury ; and to make statutes for such settlements till the crown 
shall form them into particular governments. 

Protracted sessions of the congress brought about at last a 
unanimous acceptance of these measures, though there was 
undoubted lukewarmness on the part of some of the members, 
particularly those of Connecticut. 

The document was finally signed on July 4, 1754, just at a 
date when Washington, under the capitulation of Fort 
Necessitv, was withdrawing the Eng^lish flag from the agreed upon, 

'' ° July 4, 1754, 

very territory they were seekmg to preserve. 



350 THE ANXIETY AND PLANS OF 1754. . 

The members went to their respective homes, and submitted 
but finally ^^^^ measure to their several assemblies. Every colony 
coioults aud rejected it. De Lancey sent it to the Lords of Trade, 
kiug- ^iiQ laid it, October 29, before the king, without com- 

ment. Here, also, it was rejected. The colonial assemblies 
thought that the commissioners had failed in making a strong 
union, and had erred in placing the royal prerogative in suffi- 
cient subordination. The king in council thought the union 
ominously powerful, and that the plan boded no good for the 
royal authority. The prerogative party in the colonies found a 
spokesman in Governor Morris, who wrote to the Earl of Hali- 
fax : " The plan is very inadequate, and his Majesty and minis- 
ters were to have less power in the united legislature than they 
have in the several separate ones, which might answer some 
purposes here, but would not have answered the ends of govern- 
ment, or at all contributed to have kept these provinces in that 
dependence upon the mother country, so necessary for the inter- 
ests of both." 

So no one in the end profited by the labor of the congress. 
Those who were prophetic might discern that it harbingered 
those other and more directly fateful convocations of 1765 and 
1774. 

Franklin took the failure characteristically : " The different 
and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes me susj)ect it 
was really the true medium." The king, in rejecting the plan, 
had in fact stood for English rather than colonial interests. 

Franklin told the truth bluntly, eleven years later, when he 
underwent his examination before the Stamp Act 

Franklin's . * i r\^ • ,, i • i i 

later testi- committce. " As to the Ohio, he said, " the contest 
began there about your right of trading in the Indian 
country, a right you had by the treaty of Utrecht, which the 
French infringed. They seized the traders and their goods, 
which were your manufactures. They took a fort which a 
company of yoiir merchants and their factors and correspond- 
ents [Dinwiddie acted under orders from England] had erected 
there to secure that trade. . . . The trade with the Indians, 
though carried on in America, is not an American interest. It 
is a British interest, carried on with British manufactures, for 
the profit of British merchants and manufacturers. Therefore 
the war, commenced for the defense of a territory of the crown 



THE ALBANY PLAN. 351 

[Nova Scotia] and for the defense of a trade purely British, 
was really a British war." 

Nevertheless, the colonists were the principal sufferers, and 
this rejection of the Albany plan preserved to their Advantage to 
enemies their old advantage. The French still stood by^t^'r^ec- 
their former chances of brightening the Indian chain *'°°- 
of friendship and severing the English rope of sand. The set- 
back did not diminish Franldin's hope that the destinies of 
North America were yet to be settled by an English-speaking 
people, and the question was now to be solved over the moun- 
tains in efforts to hold and pass beyond, in military array, the 
two chief eastern portals of the Great Valley. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 
1755. 

In a paper which William Johnson laid before the Albany 
Johnson's congress, he had hinted at a more systematic use of 
using^the the Six Nations in thwarting the French schemes. 
Iroquois. jjg ^^g jjQ^. gi^iiif^^i at comijosition, and one is some- 
what puzzled at his lack of precision. His plan was to possess 
their counsel and interests in the completest manner by plant- 
ing military posts everywhere among them. He advised par- 
ticularly making the most of the advantages which the English 
already had at Oswego, as a jjlace of watch and ward. It 
was here, too, that the English could easiest subject the Iro- 
quois and the more distant tribes to the influence of gifts. He 
counted upon what he felt sure was the fact, namely, that the 
tribes preferred to have the English rather than the French 
obtain a footing in the Ohio country ; and that the Senecas 
and Onondagas were most likely to be approached by the 
French agents, and should be overawed in the first instance 
by forts placed among them. As opportunity offered, he con- 
tended that the English supervision should be pushed toward 
Detroit. 

When it became evident, toward autumn, that the plan of 
A campaign wniou devised at Albany was to be set aside, there 
expected. ^^^^ Httlc cliancc for cautionary provisions to take 
new forms before a rumor came over the sea that the govern- 
ment had made up its mind to strike some sort of a blow, with 
two regiments of regulars that were to be ordered from Ireland 
to America. It was very likely now that measures more active 
and comprehensive than Johnson had outlined were to consti- 
tute the plan for a new campaign. 

Dinwiddie, when he heard these reports, was quite as much 



THE TRADERS. 353 

perplexed to provide for this royal force, in victualing and 
transportation, as he had been with his assembly's apathy. 
His neighbor, Governor Sharpe, who had had a sort of transient 
leadership iu military matters, was by no means certain that 
regular troops could be trusted in a forest campaign, with such 
adept woodsmen on the other side as the French possessed. 
Besides, there was evident uneasiness among the fron- Temper of 
tier savages, and no one could say what they aimed at. ^^^ savages. 
The French custom of buying prisoners from the Indians made 
hunting the English quite as exciting as, and more profitable 
than, chasing game. The bad faith of the Pennsylvanians in 
their treaties was, in Johnson's opinion, accountable in part for 
the savage vindictiveness. Conrad Weiser, who was not a bad 
judge of the Indian temper, did not share the apprehension of 
Johnson, and he felt certain that the French could not com- 
mand entire obedience from the tribes when the outbreak came. 
If the French on the Ohio were to encounter any such treachery 
from the natives, the English had had their share of perfidy in 
the Acadians, a race far removed from that guileless simplicity 
which attracts the poet's verse. 

Still, as ever, the French could be trusted in the trial of blan- 
dishments. " The American strength of France," says an Eng- 
lish observer of the time, "compared with ours, is quite con- 
temptible in all respects but one, and that is the wisdom and 
prudence with which it is directed." It is very clear 
that the French had a marked advantage in the far French 
greater loyalty of their backwoods traders, and we 
encounter in the contemporary reports of the French officials 
but few instances of distrust of their packmen, lest they 
convey intelligence to the enemy. Dinwiddle was quite sure 
the English plans were sometimes betrayed by the English 
traders ; and Sharpe was as confident that the colonies could 
not be depended upon to garrison the forks of the Ohio, if they 
should be retaken. The reason of his distrust was that the 
average provincial felt that any success against the French in- 
ured to the benefit of the British merchant rather than to the 
interests of his own life. 

So, with the failure at Albany, and with the environment of 
distrust and solicitude, the new year (1755) came on. The 



354 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

Sliawnees were active along the border, and it became necessary 

to make a show at least of vigilance, if the contagion 

neesraid of their temerity was not to spread to the Susque- 

the borders. , i rii t i 

hanna and ohenandoah. 

Dinwiddie accordingly dispatched Major Andrew Lewis, with 
a force composed partly of rangers and partly of Cherokees, to 
patrol the frontiers. For this and other service the Virginia 
burgesses had, as we have seen, made a grant the preceding 
October. No other assembly was as active, and what Pennsyl- 
vania did a little later depended on the exertions of Franklin. 

Authority had come for raising two American regiments in 
Shirley's ^^^^ crown's pay, but as the colonels designated were 
^errfX Shirley and Pepperrell, both carrying after ten years 
regiments. ^|-^g Jaurels of Louisbourg, it was likely the recruiting 
would have to be done in New England. The most that Din- 
widdie could hope was that these Royal Americans would be 
used in a diversion from the north toward Canada, so as to 
prevent any large reinforcement being sent to Duquesne. 

The tidings which reached Virginia from the south were not 
Carolina ^^ liclpful. Govcmor Glcu of Carolina was looking 
threatened. £qj. j-^q^ work aloug his owu frontiers, and told Din- 
widdie that the attack on Virginia woidd be a feint, while the 
greater force of the enemy would ascend the Tennessee and 
overrun Carolina. Dinwiddie felt he needed all the help he 
could get, if Contrecoeur had, as he supposed, already assembled 
sixteen hundred men at the forks. 

During January (1755), it became known in Virginia that 
Braddock to General Edward Braddock, who had received his 
command. instructions in November, had been selected for the 
American command. At the time that this intelligence was 
fresh in Virginia, Braddock's ship was leaving the English 
coast. The two cabinets on each side of the English 
andEngUsh Channel had been trying to find out each what the 
other really meant behind tlie outward craft which 
cloaked their designs. A certain Irish medical man, settled in 
London, probed, as it proved, the cabinet secrets in London bet- 
ter for France than any one could do in Paris for the English 
ministry. It was professed that Braddock had no purpose to be 
hostile in America unless attacked. The French were likewise 
equipping an armament for equally innocent ends, as was rep 



BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN. 355 

resented. It was the real purpose of the French to gain as much 
time as they could, and so they shuffled in diplomatic phrases. 

Just at the time when Braddock was landing at Hampton in 
Virginia, Machault was writing to*Duc[uesne that the French 
king was persuaded the English did not intend to come to a 
rupture, but if they did attack, it would be on the Ohio. The 
Canadian governor was warned to be prepared to repel force 
by force, but not to strike the invader until he had been sum- 
moned. Further reinforcement with Bigot and Vaudreuil would 
not be long behind. 

Before the^ end of March, Braddock's two regiments had 
joined him, and their movements were begun. Din- 
widdie and Sharpe had already got the campaign piau of 

1 ici- !!• i> .. -»y. campaign, 

planned tor him, and their objective point was JNiagara, 
certainly for the French the best entrance to the Ohio country. 
Fort Duquesne was to fall as a matter of course, and then 
Braddock was to advance up the Alleghany, take the forts on 
the way to Presqu' Isle, and proceed to Niagara. Thence he 
was to skirt Ontario to Oswego, where Shirley and Pepperrell 
were to join him in an advance on Crown Point. 

But Braddock was determined to parcel out the glory rather 
than monopolize it. In order to arrange some concerted action, 
he summoned on March 10 a meeting of the colonial governorSo 
Dinwiddle, meanwhile, was trying to enlist the Indians, ^jjg Indians 
and Braddock himself wrote to Morris of Pennsylva- *" ^® "^^^" 
nia, in the hopes that the tribes in that province who had lived 
on the Ohio would consent to join him. The southern Indians 
proved averse to joining the expedition, and Dinwiddie charged 
their defection upon French emissaries, though not unlikely 
they shared Governor Glen's apprehension of raids upon their 
own territory. It curiously happened that Dinwiddie's effort 
to enlist such aid, coming to the knowledge of the Six Nations, 
they also held back, and gave for a reason the fear of awaking 
broils with their old southern enemies, if they embarked on the 
same campaign with them. So it seemed likely that Braddock 
was not to profit much, if at all, by the Indian aid. It has been 
affirmed that he showed that he despised their assistance, and 
so alienated them. That he put little dependence on them was 
very likely true, but he certainly endeavored to do his best to 
placate them, though he had little success. The few who joined 



356 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

liim stole away when lie wanted them most. " One needs the 
patience of an angel to get on with them," he said, and the 
historical student who to-day tries to fathom their natures in 
the wearisome records of Indian councils which he finds, for 
instance, in the Pennsylvania Archives, may well wonder if 
anybody who treated with them had any patience left. Un- 
fortunately one cannot have a much better opinion of the 
whites with whom the Indians dealt. 

It was on April 14 that the governors met the English gen- 
eral at Alexandria. The outcome of their deliberation was a 
plan to give simultaneous alarm at all the points which Dinwid- 
dle and Sharpe had wished to attack in succession. Braddock 
was to march upon Duquesne, Shirley upon Niagara, and 
Johnson upon Crown Point, while New England was to keep 
the Acadians too busy for them to afford any help farther west. 
If all went well, it was thought not unlikely that Braddock, 
meeting Shirley and Pepperrell at Niagara, would be able to go 
to Johnson's assistance if it was needed. 

The character of Braddock, moulded by more than forty 
Braddock's years' scrvicc in the Coldstream Guards, was hardly 
character. suited to the environments of the wilderness. He was 
only lately become a major-general, having been gazetted a few 
months before he was assigned to the American field. Those 
who knew him best never doubted his courage or his routine 
skill as a soldier, but they knew him to be desperately immoral, 
easily brutal, and obstinate in his opinions. A variety of wit- 
nesses of his disposition have left us the mosaics of his charac- 
ter. Walpole and Mistress Bellamy gossip about him as they 
knew him in England. Shirley, his secretary, had no admira- 
tion for him. Washington saw his failings. Franklin thought 
him disqualified for his task. The Virginians found him impe- 
rious, and thought him little open to the experience of woods- 
men. He somehow easily wounded the sensibilities of the colo- 
nists, and it was found difficult, with such a man in command, 
to hold the English in the Virginia regiment to the coming 
task. They did not see with complacency " raw, surly, and 
tyrannical Scots," who were creatures of Braddock, taking the 
places which belonged to them. Maury evidently refers to 
Braddock when he speaks of the rudeness and insolence of an 
officer of rank which were not resented because of the common 
cause. 



BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN. 357 

There was certainly much in what Bracldock had to encoun- 
ter to disgust an officer accustomed, as he was, to rigid disci- 
pline and accountability, and it should serve in some degree to 
exculpate him. He could ill brook any comparison of the fron- 
tier ranger with his redcoats. The refvisal of the Pennsylva- 
nians to make his efforts easier was very trying, and he would 
doubtless have been hardly better satisfied with New Eng- 
land men, who seemed at a distance to be his ideal of what 
provincials should be. It has been the custom of American 
writers to charge the dreadful miscarriage of the campaign 
upon this haughty and untactful general, and he very likely de- 
serves a large share of the blame. Kingsford, the latest and 
best Canadian historian, has pushed his defense of Braddock as 
far as it will bear, if not farther, in denying that he alienated 
the Indians, and in insisting that the regulars behaved as well 
in the fight as the Virginians. 

In Pennsylvania the Quakers and Germans united to defeat 
all measures that would sustain the alien general, and 

1 • c ■?! 1 T • Penusylva- 

it was only the personal exertions or J^ranklin, in ma and the 

I'll T ii IT campaign. 

gathering pack-horses and wagons, that produced any 
assistance at all. 

In May, 1755, Contrecoeur had completed the defense of 
Duquesne. He had made a log fort, with walls sixteen 
feet thick. Trunks of trees were placed transversely, at du- 
with a parapet above. A ditch lined the walls where 
the confluent streams did not protect it. 

Braddock was now at Will's Creek on the Potomac. Wash- 
ington had ioined him (May 16) on a special invita- 

• -1 mi IT- • • * 11 1 T Braddock at 

tion to act as aide, ihe Virginia Assembly had at wiii's 

Creek. 

last been brought to regard the support of the cam- 
paign as incumbent on them as Britons. 

Here at Fort Cumberland the route to be pursued became a 
question. Early in the year, the governor of Penn- Braddock'a 
sylvania had directed the survey of a road over the '^°"*®" 
western mountains of that province ; but it progressed slowly, 
and was finally stopped when Braddock no longer needed it. It 
was an easier route than that to the Monongahela, and through 
a country affording better sujjplies ; but other reasons prevailed, 
and the passage to the Youghioghenj^ which Washington had 



360 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

already roughly laid out, was preferred. This was partly, no 
doubt, because the ulterior advantage to Pennsylvania from 
establishinof a route for her settlements was hot to be considered 
in view of her apathy toward the expedition. Perhaps a more 
cogent reason existed in the influence which one Hanbury, a 
London merchant and shareholder in the Ohio Company, had 
over the weak and ignorant Duke of Newcastle. Hanbury had 
no hesitation in exercising this influence for the benefit of the 
future trade of that company. AVashington, from his experi- 
ence, naturally favored a route which he knew the best, and 
Braddock readily acceded to his aide's advice. It was thus 
along a route which in the main corresponds to the traveled 
highway to-day, that Braddoek's van penetrated the gap four 
miles west of Cumberland, where the Baltimore and Ohio rail- 
way now enters the mountains. By the 10th of June, when 
Braddoek's ^^^^ advauce was made, Braddoek's column consisted 
advance. q£ ^bout two thousaud mcii. Confident that scouting 
parties of the enemy could slip by him, the general had advised 
Dinwiddle to warn the county lieutenants. The Vii-ginia gov- 
ernor was doing his best to arouse enthusiasm ; but 
ansand the rcsponscs wcre discouraging. He confessed that 
nians he lougcd for the spirit which since the days of Louis- 

bourg the colonists had generally associated with the 
New England character. He knew that Shirley was fearful of 
the result if the southern colonies did not show more alertness. 
When every fifth man in Massachusetts responded in 1745, 
was it too much to expect of Pennsylvania and Virginia that 
every twelfth man should spring to his feet ? This was Shir- 
ley's question to the harassed Dinwiddle. 

German and Quaker and tidewater Virginian evidently 
thought the question impertinent, and Braddock advanced with 
less assistance than he should have had from the colonies at his 
back. 

Tlie force likdly to be encountered was no doubt unduly ex- 
aggerated. Contrecoeur's forces had been reduced 
cavir'8 in all his posts to less than four hundred during 

the winter, but some small details had since reached 
him, probably not to the extent that Bradstreet, at Oswego, had 
imagined. This officer sent a warning express to Braddock, 



BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN. 361 

which coukl hardly as yet have reached that officer. At this 
time there were really in Duquesne a few comiDanies of French 
regulars, a small body of Canadians, and perhaps eight hundred 
Indians. Some of these latter were a contingent from the 
tribes of the northwest, led by Charles de Langlade, and it has 
been said that Pontiac was among them. 

Already the French had begun to withdraw their forces from 
the extreme northwest, and during the ensuing war 
their flag was nowhere flying beyond Mackinac ex- risons at 
cept at the Sault Ste. Marie. They had left a small 
garrison at Fort Chartres on the Mississippi, now just rebuilt 
in substantial style. 

It is certain that Contrecoeur had no hopes of doing more than 
to impede the British march. He had, in fact, not 
yet received the detail originally intended for Presqu' ami Beau- 
Isle, which Vaudreuil had ordered to Duquesne. Beau- 
jeu, a subordinate officer under Contrecoeur, had manifested an 
eagerness to confront the apj^roaching enemy, but his command- 
ing officer was averse to letting him. A rush of volunteers 
at once showed that the men had confidence in Beaujeu, and so 
he was permitted to lead out a body of eight or nine hundred 
men, mostly painted Indians, but including two hundred and 
more regulars and Canadians. 

Beaujeu had hojjed to reach the ford which Braddock must 
pass in season to secure it. In this he failed, but at a piece of 
hillocky ground along a defile, masked by tliick leafage, he had 
just time to dispose his men before the pioneers of the British 
were startled at discovering them. 

We must now follow Braddock's approach. He had left 
Colonel Dunbar some distance in his rear with a force Braddock's 
to guard his trains. Up to his parting with Dunbar, ^^'■'°^' 
his advance had been slow. His lumbering army had stretched 
three or four miles along a narrow, tortuous road, bristling 
with stumps and half cleared of stones. There was a motley 
show of the red Britisher and the blue Virginian. There 
were scattered, clanking cavalry and rumbling guns. His 
pioneers stopped to build bridges and level mole-hills where 
Washington saw little need of it. His flanking parties did 



362 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

not scour so thoroughly but that the enemy's scouts got into 
his camps. 

Leaving Dunbar, the general now pushed on with the most 
available part of his army in light order and in fighting trim. 
He passed unopposed the ford where Beaujeu had hoped to con- 
front him, and with almost an air of parade the red and blue, 
with their canopy of glancing steel, moved steadily on within 
the fatal defile. 

It was the 7th of July. A volley at the front showed that 
The fight *^6 trial had come. Gage, the later general of the 
July", 1755. lievolutionary epoch, was in advance, and wheeling 
his guns to the front, their booming discharge and the rattling 
volley of musketeers threw the foe at first into confusion. The 
French leader, Beaujeu, fell. The Indians scattered and the 
Canadians wavered. At this moment, a commander on the Eng- 
lish side such as Bouquet later proved himself to be might have 
turned this hesitancy of the enemy into a rout. The Indians, 
never easily rallied under discouragement, might have drawn the 
French into flight. Braddock hastened to the front, and the 
time lost in arranging a line and massing his troojjs in an order 
suited to open spaces gave the successor of Beaujeu a chance to 
rally his men. From every vantage-ground of rock and thicket, 
most of the time unseen, the French and their Indians poured 
into the thickened British ranks such ceaseless and irregular 
volleys, that the ground was soon so strewn with the dying that 
the tactical movements of the English were impeded. Each 
Virginian sought the shelter of a tree, and used up his powder 
upon marksmen as unseen as himself. Braddock strove hard to 
keep the line of the redcoats steady, but it was in vain. He had 
The English ^^^^ f*^^^^' horscs shot uudcr him, when he gave orders 
^^" for falling back. Governor Shirley's son, who was the 

general's secretary, was killed. Washington barely escaped on 
the third horse which he had mounted. Gage and Gates were 
wounded. Patrick MacKeller, the chief engineer, was more 
fortunate, and to his trained eye and calm observation amid it 
all we owe the plans of the battle, still existing, which are so 
necessary in comprehending it. 

There could be no more trying ordeal for European troops 
than the incessant cracking of shots, with a man falling for 
each, and no one to be seen behind the white puff. Just as the 



DEATH OF BRADDOCK. 363 

recoil was most confused, the general was struck from his horse, 
and Washington was left in command. The young American 
tried to jjrevent the retreat from becoming a disordered rout. 
The attempt was useless. There was a headlong, bewildering 
scamper for the rear. The mass bore everybody along. It was 
nothing but a dispirited rabble surging before an infuriated 
horde of savages. In this way the fugitives, in wild confusion, 
enveloped the guard which was bearing off the dying Braddock. 
The ford which had been crossed so confidently was regained. 
Only when the wearied survivors huddled together for a while 
on the other side of the river was there a moment of respite. 
No attempt was made by the victors to pass the stream and 
harass the flying English longer ; but savage and French scat- 
tered themselves along the defile and slopes, robbing the dead 
and despoiling the dying. 

What there was left of this shamefuUy defeated army, now 
that the river was between them and their enemy, and 
a brief respite had followed, was soon hurried once 
more into a mad precipitancy, which showed little abatement till 
Dunbar's camp was reached. This officer, now assuming com- 
mand, seems never to have given a thought to the possibility of 
intrenching himself, that he might save his supplies and dispirit 
Contrecoeur enough to prevent his planning other movements. 
On the contrary, this Scottish colonel ordered the immediate 
destruction of his wagons and stores, and then led the miserable 
runaways in further flight. 

It was in the midst of this desperation that the almost speech- 
less Braddock died. They buried him in the road, so 

-, ■, . ■, f , ,. CI. Braddock 

that his men coukl trample out the signs of his grave, dies, and is 
It was not till the fugitives reached Fort Cumber- 
land, that there were returning signs of composure. Even then 
Dunbar was too agitated to do his palpable duty, and hurried 
on to Philadelphia, leaving the Virginians to defend what was 
now the most exposed of the English posts. 

So the first battle of the English in the Great Valley had 
been fought, with this dismal result. Three fourths rpj^g English 
of the officers had been killed or disabled and two ^°**' 
thirds of the men, an average of not much short of two for each 
contestant on the other side. 



364 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

France, with no one left to oppose her, had for a time at 

least made good her hold upon the broad areas beyond the 

mountains. Her control extended everywhere to the ridge of 

the Alleghanies, except at one point. The little settlement at 

Draper's Meadows still contained its sturdy company 

Draper's . . j i. %j 

Meadows of loyal Scotch-Irish, guarding the sources of the Ka- 
nawha ; but on the day following the defeat of Brad- 
dock, a party of Sbawnees had fallen upon it and carried off 
some of the women. It was the first of a direful series of 
murderous raids along the luckless frontiers of Virginia and 
^Pennsylvania. The furious savages now pushed over the 
outer mountains, and at times ravaged the banks of the Cow- 
pasture River. 

The earliest acknowledgment of Braddock's defeat was in 
a circular which Colonel Innes sent by express from 
defeat Fort Cumberland on July 11, four days after the bat- 

tle. Two days later, he dispatched further particulars 
to both Sharpe and Dinwiddie. The latter got his first tidings 
on the 14th, the very day on which Shirley and Johnson at the 
north were congratulating themselves that Fort Duquesne must 
have fallen. Orme, one of Braddock's staff, sent off a letter 
from Fort Cumberland on the 18th, and a copy of this, sent 
north by Sharpe, was in Governor Hopkins's hands in Rhode 
Island on August 2, and it was not far into August before 
the chief centres of colonial life along the seaboard were in- 
formed of the disaster. Naturally, it was known in England 
before the French government heard of it, and intelligence from 
over the Channel reached Paris on September 5, about two 
months after the event. 

The victory caused hilarious excitement at Duquesne, as we 
Effect at know f rom the testimony of an English prisoner con- 
Duquesne. f^Y^^^^ there, but it was followed by a period of trepida- 
tion, when it was feared that the British would recover, and 
with Dunbar's reserve advance again. What rendered the sit- 
uation worse was the difficidty of communicating with Canada, 
and a little later such tidings as they got at the forks were far 
from assuring, for the wheat crop had failed on the St. Law- 
rence, and last year's store was brutally used to exact money 
from the people. Montcalm, on hearing from Duquesne, during 



WASHINGTON ON THE BORDERS. 365 

the autumn, described the fort as " not worth a straw, and as 
having been recently nearly swept away by a freshet." All 
this time, while the English leaders were getting nothing but 
harrowing details from the frontiers, they might have taken 
some heart, could they have known the truth. In the latter 
part of October, Sharpe was complaining that they had not 
been able to learn anything about the condition of Duquesne. 

The months immediately following Braddock's defeat were 
very anxious ones for the English. The direful catas- -phe borders 
ti-ophe had let Iqpse a fiendish swarm of savages along '^'^^d. 
the borders. The Dinwiddie and Sharpe letters and the numer- 
ous reports from local observers, which are preserved in the 
printed volumes of the Pennsylvania Archives and Records^ 
show us the gloom of the hour. The anxiety was mixed with 
bitterness at the pusillanimous conduct of Dunbar, in sacrificing 
the munitions which had cost them so dearly. 

Washington was soon put in command of a regiment of bor- 
derers at Winchester in the Shenandoah valley. Cap- 
tain Lewis's journal of his march with these troops m'the vaiiey 
reveals the number of deserted houses throughout that 
region, whose occupants had fled before the Indian prowlers. 
It needed all of Washington's al^i-tness, with the activity of 
his patrols, and the vicinage of Dinwiddle's fort on Jackson 
River, to keep this country along the eastern foot of the Alle- 
ghanies within the pale of frontier life. 

North of the Potomac matters were even worse. The Dela- 
wares, centring at Kittanning on the Alleghany, were -rj,g hostile 
crossing the mountains in hordes, and skipping in i^eiawares. 
fiendish fury from hamlet to hamlet. Andrew Montour was 
sent to the Great Island on the west branch of the Susque- 
hanna to appease the Indians, and forestall the French in their 
evident purpose to seize Shamokin (now Sunbury) and make it 
the centre of French influence in this region. Conrad Weiser 
had his scouts out to watch their movements, and at one time 
he reported that ^yith their French allies, not less devilish than 
they, fifteen hundred savages were pouring upon the side valleys 
along the Juniata and the west branches of the Susquehanna. 
Among the Mohawks, Johnson was endeavoring to ^,,3 jj.^,. 
make the Iroquois maintain their supremacy over 'i""'^' 
these Alleghany tribes and check their incursions, but with little 



366 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

success ; nor was he more prosperous in trying to make the ren- 
egade neophytes at Caughnawaga remain neutral. 

The protection o£ the border in Pennsylvania was much com- 
plicated by an untimely quarrel of the assembly with 
Peunsyiva^ the Proprietaries of the province. These grandsons 
"'*■ of William Penn had few of his winning traits. The 

peaceful tenets of the Quakers were also hard to overcome. 
" There is so great a majority of Quakers in the house," wrote 
Governor Morris, " that no warlike preparations are to be ex- 
pected from them, being, as they pretend, contrary to their prin- 
ciples ; " and it seemed for a while as if the Scotch-Irish and 
the Germans among them, who constituted the adventiu'ous 
settlers of the west, were to be left to their fate by the sluggish 
Quakers of the east. Franklin suspected " that the defense of 
The Quaker ^hc couutry was uot disagreeable to any of them, pro- 
eiement. yidcd they wcrc not required to assist in it." He gives 
us an amusing instance of the way in which they finally con- 
sented to participate in the common zeal, by voting allowances 
" for wheat and other grain," whose kernels they expected to be 
interpreted to mean powder. As matters grew worse, the assem- 
bly was at last induced to grant, " as aid to the crown," an appro- 
priation of fifty thousand pounds to be assessed as a tax on all 
estates. The Proprietaries demurred, as this woidd 
with the include their own reserved territory within the prov- 
ince. The assembly would not retreat, and it was 
finally compromised by placing the Proprietaries' liability at 
five thousand pounds. 

But there was something more than money necessary, and 
Franklin was doing the best he could to arouse a martial spirit. 
In November, when even New Jersey, east of the Delaware, had 
become uneasy, and the mayor and principal citizens of Phila- 
delphia were not without apprehension, as new incursions were 
reported from the north, Franklin was enabled to overcome the 
Quaker repug-nance and secure the passage in the 

Pennsylva- , , » ^ .,. . » ^ . ^ Tr 

Ilia militia asscuibly 01 a militia act ot no great stringency. It 
any still held that the trans-Alleghany country, being 
the crown's, was no concern of theirs, they could agree with 
Franklin that now, at least, the colony itself was attacked. It 
was no longer a question of protecting British trade, but of the 



WILLIAM SHIRLEY. 367 

preservation of their own lives. They saw all this in the flocks 
of settlers coming into York from the distant and demoralized 
Cumberland County, and in the bewildered families 

, . 1 -1X7- . I . p T . Frontier set- 

whicli W eiser was conductmgj irom over the mountains tiers driven 

back. 

within the protecting lines of the inner forts. The 
valley of the Juniata had become almost entirely deserted. 
Maury tells us that it was short work in these painfid months to 
withdraw the border settlements a hundred and fifty miles, thus 
interposing a desert on the English side of the Alleghany j)ortals. 

We have seen that while Braddock was following the Monon- 
ffahela, it had been expected that along: the shores of 

, -r , 1 . , , The cam- 

the -Lakes other aggressive movements would secure an paign at the 
entrance to the Ohio valley in the north. 

As early as January, 1755, Shirley had matured plans for 
attacking Crown Point and invading Canada, — a scheme which 
would have seriously affected the French purpose on the Ohio. 
He presented this scheme to the council at Alexandria, which 
modified it so far as to divide the movement, Johnson undertak- 
ing the attack along Lake Champlain, while Shirley himself was 
to assault Niagara. Shirley's route lay from Albany Niagara 
to Schenectady, up the Mohawk by boat, making a '^^"^"=^'^- 
portage at Fort Stanwix to Wood's Creek. Thence he was to 
find his way to Oswego by the traders' route, and on the lake 
he was to gather a flotilla and skirt the shore to Niagara. 

Shii'ley and Johnson were at Albany when the news of Brad- 
dock's defeat reached them, and fearing its effect upon their 
own men, they tried for a while to conceal the tidings. The 
death of Braddock had made Shirley the ranking officer on 
the continent, but he did not receive his new commission till 
the season's work was at an end. His elevation was not fortu- 
nate, and Hutchinson tells us that " friends saw the ghiriey's 
risk he was running, and wished he had contented '^i*^''^*'*®'"- 
himself with a civic station." His friends were wise. His 
career had been a striking, and in many ways a successful one, 
and he shared with Pepperrell the glories of Louisbourg. His 
diplomatic career at Paris had brought him credit, and he had 
been linked with his Louisbourg associate as the two native 
leaders for the royal American regiments. His merits, how- 
ever, were those of a politician, and not of a soldier. In some 



368 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

ways lie *' knew how to stoop to what he understood," and he 
had faculties which gained the respect of Franklin, but at the 
same time there was a certain light air about him which Parkman 
calls " an element of boyishness." His career has never been 
adequately studied. 

Unfortunately, he and Johnson were not in accord, and mu- 
tual jealousies perplexed their common aims. Johnson 
with John-'^'' spoke of his rival's "causeless jealousy and unmer- 
^°"' ited resentment," and wrote bitter complaints to the 

Lords of Trade. On the whole, Shirley, who had pushed John- 
son into the paths of military glory, secures our sympathy in 
the quarrel, though he was less prudent than usual in inter- 
andDe fcriug with Jolmsou's power as superintendent of 
Lancey. ^|^g Indians. De Lancey, a politician of a type pro- 
duced by evil days, did also what he could to embitter Shirley's 
existence. 

It was in March (1755) that the English government an- 
Fieuch and nouuccd iu Parliament that a French war was inevita- 
^re^'imtions ^^^' ^* ^^^^ Icamcd that the French were equipping 
for war. ^ Ibx^q naval force at Brest and Rochelle, and that an 
attendant fleet of transports was to carry an army under Dies- 
kau to Quebec. It mattered little that the two countries were 
preserving the formal intercourse of peace, and on April 27, 
Admiral Boscawen, possessed of an understanding of the cabi- 
net's wishes, rather than committed to instructions, put to sea in 
order to intercept the French armament. A week later (May 3), 
the French fleet was on its way, taking not only the new gen- 
eral, but a new governor, Vaudreuil, to succeed Duquesne. Two 
only of the French ships fell into Boscawen's hands. Conse- 
quently, by June 19, the safe arrival of the rest of the fleet 
added three thousand French regulars to the. thousand already 
at Quebec. This made a pretty effective addition to the eight 
thousand militia which Canada was drilling for the campaign. 

During the spring, Johnson was doing the best he could to 

hold the Iroquois steady in their allegiance, and no 

and the doubt Spending wisely the ten thousand pounds with 

roquos. ^vhich he had been intrusted for that iDurjDose. In 

this business he was at his best, and his twenty years in tlie 

Mohawk country looking after the landed interests of his uncle, 



BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE. 869 

Sir Peter Warren, — the same who commanded the fleet that 
helj)ed Pepperrell at Louisboux-g, — had thoroughly schooled 
him in the arts of Indian diplomacy. 

During the summer at Albany, he had been busy organizing 
the forces which he was to lead against Crown Point. 
General Phineas Lyman, of Connecticut, his second Poiutexpe- 
in command, had built a fort at the carrying place 
towards the lake, and this post was made the base of opera- 
tions. There were among Johnson's other trusted lieutenants 
not a few who were later famous in this and the Revolution- 
ary war, — Israel Putnam, John Stark, Seth Pomeroy, and 
Ephraim Williams among them. 

Dieskau moved up Lake Champlain, and was preparing to 
attack the fort which Lyman had built. It was now Septem- 
ber (1755), and the impending struggle was to decide if the 
English were to be driven back to Schenectady and Albany by 
a disaster equal to that by which they had recoiled to Fort 
Cumberland on the Potomac. 

Hendricks, the Mohawk, and Williams, the founder of the 
college of that name, were in command of a flying camp, watch- 
ing the French advance. The French planned an ambush and 
enticed this too unwary body into it. The suffering of the de- 
ceived party was for a while nuich like that whidh Braddock 
had experienced on the Monongahela, but a vigilant woods- 
man, Nathan Whiting of Connecticut, finally extricated the 
English, after Williams and the friendly chief had fallen. 
Whiting did more, for he managed to keep the eager foe suffi- 
ciently long in restraint for Johnson, who was near the head 
of Lake George, to build a barricade of wagons and boats. It 
was in an onset against this improvised bulwark that 

Battle of 

the French general soon found his match. The re- Lake 
pulse was steady and vigorous. Johnson was early 
wounded and borne fi-om the field. Lyman, who succeeded to 
the command, turned the repulse into a rout. Dieskau was left 
on the field sorely but not mortally wounded, but the great 
body of his troops managed to fly beyond pursuit. 

Johnson's opjiortunity was to have permitted so good a leader 
as Lyman had proved himself to be to deal a finishing joimsonand 
stroke by advancing upon the disorganized fugitives, ^y^*"- 
Perhaps he turned from the chance through something like 



370 THE ALLEGHANY PORTALS. 

that jealousy which he saw so readily in Shirley. Lyman's 
friends long contended that it was a base spirit in Johnson 
which prompted him later to take Lyman's name from the 
defensive works which the Connecticut soldier had built, and 
bestow upon it that of Fort Edward. Johnson's friends assert 
that it was more prudent for him to give over a pursuit and 
fortify the head of the lake by building what became known as 
Fort William Henry. This defense was placed so as to guard 
what Johnson now rechristened Lake George, after the English 
king, an appellation which easily supplanted the original name 
given by the French. 

Here, on September 11, he held a conference with the In- 
dians, and for some weeks he was busy with these 
holds a interviews, giving time for the French to strengthen 
September' themsclvcs at Ticoudcroga. The two armies were thus 
' ' ' left facing each other in intrenchments, from the 
opposite ends of the lake, but on November 27 Johnson with- 
winter drcw the main part of his forces to Albany for winter 
quarters. quarters. 

The battle of Lake George, if not all that it might have 
Johnson a been, was a cheery contrast to the miserable failure 
baronet. ^^^^ p^^.^. D^quesue, and Johnson was the fortunate 
recipient of a baronetcy and a grant of five thousancl pounds. 
Shirley's friends claimed that this money was simply subtracted 
from the grant which Parliament had made for the war, and so 
diminished the resources which could give it vigor. 

Meanwhile, Shirley had reaped no laurels for his military 
Shirley's ambition. Braddock's papers, taken in the fight, had 
failure. rcvcaled Shirley's intended attack on Niagara, and 
though there were many delays in the movements of Contre- 
cceur, from his needless fear of Dunbar and from his intercepted 
communications, Shirley was so conscious that the French could 
effectually reinforce the point of his intended attack that he 
became timid. In August, he learned from spies that no troops 
had yet arrived at Niagara from Duquesne. He dallied at 
Oswego till the season of gales on the lake was impending, 
and on September 27 he and his council of war decided to 
abandon the campaign. In October, Shirley and his men were 
back in Albany. 



A DISASTROUS YEAR. 371 

A hesitating action, induced very likely in part by the iinsjan- 
pathetic relations of the two northern commanders, and in- 
creased, it is probable, from the setback which Braddock had 
received, and from the dilatory support of the colonial legisla- 
tures, had made the year, on the whole, a disastrous jheyear 
one for the English. The French, with the aim of foTZ"""" 
driving their enemies out of the two great valleys, had ^"s''*''- 
practically succeeded. The little hamlet at Draper's Meadows 
and the posts at Lake George and Oswego still indeed remained 
in English hands ; but there was little hope now of barrier col- 
onies, and a plan which Samuel Hazard outlined, and which the 
Connecticut assembly fostered, of a new colony beyond the con- 
fines of Pennsylvania, and extending beyond the Mississippi, 
vanished in the air. Franklin's hopes of a Pennsylvania col- 
ony on Lake Erie, and a Virginia one by the Ohio, had passed 
into the limbo of forgotten things. The forty miles' breadth of 
bottom lands which lined the course of the Scioto was to be left 
to blossom under a new government in the next century. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1756, 1757. 

The year 1756 opened with tlie Frencli holding' the English 
Plans for a ^* ami's lenglh from the sources of the Ohio. Early 
pai^l'"^ in December (1755), Shirley had been confirmed in 
175G. jjjg position as commander-in-chief by the receijit of 

his commission. A few days later, he held a council of war at 
New York, and laid before it the royal instructions. These 
outlined a plan of campaign not greatly unlike that of the pre- 
^dous year, which had so woefully miscarried. Troops were to 
be gathered at Will's Creek, to confront the foi'ce which it 
was supposed France would send up the Mississippi to defend 
Duquesne. Indeed, Franklin, who had now been commissioned 
to defend the frontiers of Pennsylvania, was confident that the 
main French purpose was to carry the war into that province. 
Another army was to gain Niagara and the Lakes and secure 
this entrance to the Ohio valley, while ships were to be built to 
patrol Lake Ontario. Shirley pointed out that Oswego must 
be held at all hazards, for he, better than those to whom he later 
resigned the control, understood how it was the key of the 
Oswego. northern route. He anticipated perfectly just what 
1756. ^jj happen, — that its fall would push the English 

frontiers back upon Schenectady, if not upon Albany. To re- 
tain Oswego meant to Shirley an attack on Frontenac, which 
his displacement put off for two years. Success at Frontenac 
was to be followed by a movement upon Mackinac, and Shirley 
estimated that a force of six thousand men would carry out this 
part of the campaign. Half as many, with the aid of tlie south- 
ern Indians, he thought would secure Duquesne ; and another 
six thousand were enough to succeed at Crown Point. New 
England would take care of a feint upon Quebec by the Chau- 
diere, for which two thousand troops would suffice. 

The scheme was brilliant enough to animate Shirley's martial 



THE FRONTIERS. 373 

ambition, and Governor Belcher might well hope, if it were 
successful, that " Canada would be rooted out." 

To organize such a complicated undertaking kept Shirley 
busy for the winter in Boston, while his old rival, Johnson, act- 
ing under Shirley's instructions, was endeavoring to check the 
Indian ravages which still continued along the Susque- 
hanna and the Juniata. Franklin, at the same time, Peunsyiva^ 
had every occasion for his activity in pushing forward 
defenders and their supplies. Teedyuscung, the Delaware 
leader, was still defiant, and nothing that Johnson could do 
was able for a time to induce the Iroquois to interpose as a 
shield for the whites. The Senecas absolutely refused, and the 
Delawares were satisfied with the opportunity of unpetticoating 
themselves, as their Indian phraseology went. The TheDeiar 
spring, with its uncertainties, led the Pennsylvania "^^^ewar. 
government to a declaration of war, while Teedyuscung main- 
tained himself, both with the Six Nations and the English, in a 
way to show how he stood on a vantage-ground. 

The Pennsylvania government, despite the lukewarmness of 
the Quaker assembly, established a line of palisaded Frontier 
posts from the Delaware to the new road which had ^°'''^" 
been opened to the mountains. About eight hundred men were 
scattered among these forts as garrisons, while patrols were 
kept skirring about in the interspaces. As a sort of base for 
these operations, a new fort was built at Shamokin, where the 
two main branches of the Susquehanna met. These enterprises 
had about used up the sixty thousand pounds raised on the 
credit of the province. They had also given the Delawares 
new grounds for apprehensions lest these militaiy structures had 
put new liens on their territory. It was a current belief that 
this fresh discontent was fostered " by vile, rascally deserters, 
Irish Roman Catholics, who were employed by the French." 

Along the Potomac and south of it, Sharpe and Dinwiddie 
were scheming to keep up the courage of the people. 
The conditions were not inspiring. There was a space land and 
of two hundred miles between the tolerably settled frontiers. 
tidewater country and the scattered hamlets of a fron- 
tier three hundred miles in extent. Here Washington was try- 
ing to organize a defense against a persistent horde of invaders. 



374 TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1756, 1737. 

He was only able to promise his rangers and garrisons eight- 
pence a clay against the eighteenpence which the same service 
received in Pennsylvania. Such a disparity of remuneration 
DiuwidJie's ^^^ "^^ prevent Dinwiddie wishing that the Pennsyl- 
views. vanians wovdd become as ardent bushfighters as his 

Virginians. Nevertheless, the 173,318 whites in Dinwiddie's 
province did far less than his zeal wished of them. He himself 
labored to hold the Cherokees fast in their alliance. It had 
long been a pet belief of the Virginian governor that a line of 
fortified posts from Crown Point to the Creek country was of 
the first importance, and he would have them built and main- 
tained by a tax imposed by Parliament. The Albany plan of 
union having failed, Pennsylvania had taken up the undertaking 
on her own soil, under Franklin's urgency. It had been found 
that the Indians had learned from the French the art of firing 
stockades. So Sharpe of Maryland had continued the line be- 
FortFrefi- youd Fort Cumberland by planting Fort Frederick 
erick. 175G. ^^ ^j^g North Mountain, near the Potomac, and sjsent 
something like a thousand pounds in making it of masonry, — 
not altogether without inciting charges of extravagance. There 
were two hundred men put in it, and an equal number of men 
The Virginia ranging beyond it. On the Virginia border. Wash- 
forts. 1756. ii^gton had been instructed to run a line of stockaded 
posts, twenty or thirty miles apart, southward from Fort Din- 
widdie, to depend on a fortified magazine, which, during the 
summer, he built at Winchester, These forts were convenient 
rallying-points ; but they were much too far asunder to guard 
the contiguous valleys from hostile depredators. 

In February, Dinwiddie was hoping that Shirley's plan of an 

advance from Fort Cumberland would be attempted. 
prepara-_ Hc was Urging Morris of Pennsylvania, now occupied 

with establishing his fortified barriers, to place one of 
them at least beyond the moimtains. Washington, taking ad- 
vantage of a lull in the enemy's movements, had gone to Bos- 
ton to consult with Shirley. He was directed on his way back 
to confer with Morris in Philadelphia, and see if some plan of 
concerted action among the southern colonies could not be en- 
tered upon. Shirley figured out what the quota of these colo- 
nies would be under the schedule of 1754, and found it to be 
7,284 men. Of these he thought 4,000 might, with the aid of a 




THE FRONTIERS. 

[From Pouchot's Memoire de la derniire Guerre.] 



376 TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1756, 1757. 

thousand Cherokees be employed against Fort Duquesne, while 
the rest would do better service north in severing the French 
communications with the Ohio. Dinwiddie was at the same 
time urging upon the Lords of Trade his plan of fortifying 
the mountain passes. No peace could be had, he was sure, till 
the French were expelled from the Ohio, and he recommended 
that a Protestant colony should be maintained as a barrier on 
the Ohio lands. The German and Irish Roman Catholics of 
Pennsylvania and Maryland were seldom in his mind but as 
hostile aliens. It was reckoned that at this time there were 
twelve hundred Catholics in Pennsylvania of an age to take the 
sacraments. 

In March, Shirley had commissioned Sharpe to head an at- 
Attack tack on the forks of the Ohio, or at least to make a 
Duqulsne" divcrsiou in that direction. The movement gave Din- 
1756. widdie encouragement in his despondency, for he was 

eager for something to be done, and yet was not confident of 
success. He feared that Dumas, now in charge of Duquesne, 
had been reinforced from the Mississippi, and some time later 
was reporting that a thousand men had come to its assistance 
from the Wabash. Still, an advance would create a diversion, 
which would prevent Dumas's aiding Niagara, and leave the 
northern task easier. Dumas was doing his best to conceal his 
condition by keej)ing his raiders busy, and Sharpe was con- 
stantly hearing of their pushing in between the Pennsylvania 
forts so as to ravage his own borders. His scouts, forty miles 
Indian rav- bcyond Fort Cumberland, were encountering the ene- 
ages. 1756. jj^jgg' raugcrs. The savage rancor of these French 
Indians had already driven the pioneers back from the South 
Mountain, and left the German settlements exposed. This was 
the condition of things, with no organized movement made on 
the English part, when news of the fall of Oswego came in 
September. It was at once feared it might be the signal for a 
fresh advance in force from the Ohio. 

While these alternating scenes of trepidation and prepara- 
tion were following each other east of the Alleghanies, the 
English made two really aggressive movements beyond their 
passes, but neither of them effected a lodgment in the Great 
VaUey. 



KITTANNING ATTACKED. 377 

In April, Andrew Lewis led a body of Virginians and Chero- 
kees against the Shawnee towns, two hundred and 
jBftv miles beyond the Virginia frontiers. The party peditiou 

1 r 1 mi -nil ^^gaiust the 

was absent tor a month. Ihey experienced bad suawueea. 

, , , , . . . . . nsG. 

weather, and lost their provisions m crossing a stream. 

In its main purpose Lewis failed of success, but he captured 
some vagabond French. They were supposed to be a party 
of the exiled Acadians, who were trying to find their way from 
the coast to Duquesne. On the return march, his Cherokees, 
weary of foot, seized some horses belonging to frontiersmen. 
This was viewed as an outrage, and the Indians were promptly 
punished, but at the risk of their alliance. 

Late in August, Colonel John Armstrong started from Fort 
Shirley with a body of Pennsylvanians, and crossing Armstrong 
the mountains fell upon Kittanning, the rallying-point ?^^i'ing.^'*" 
of the hostile Delawares, situated on the Alleghany. ^''^■ 
Armstrong devastated the settlement, rescued a few English 
whom the Indians held as prisoners, and safely returned. He 
had delivered a scourging blow, but it had small effect ujson 
the progress of events, except that it taught the enemy that 
there were blows to take as well as to give. The French ac- 
counts slur the matter, but the English thought it quite equal 
in boldness and celerity to the raids of the French. It gave 
occasion for Dinwiddle to offer congratulation to Governor 
Denny, very shortly after his succeeding to Morris in the execu- 
tive office of Pennsylvania. 

During the summer, the French on the Ohio had been pre- 
paring for the worst. In the spring, Vaudreuil con- 
gratulated himseli particularly in being able to pro- provisioned. 
vision Duquesne from New Orleans and the Illinois. 
Though this involved tugging at tow-ropes and poling bateaux 
against the current, it was less laborious than attempting such 
succor from the St. Lawrence. Vaudreuil recognized the risks 
from flanking parties of the English at the rapids near the 
modern Louisville, which necessitated a wearisome portage, and 
he considered that, to secure the transit, a fort at that point 
was necessary. 

Thus sure of his supplies, Dumas, the commander at the 
forks, pursued a policy of harrying the English to keep them 



378 TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1736, 1757. 

busy. He was conscious that liis own defenses could not stand 
Dumas anx- ^^ attack of artillery, if the enemy were given time 
ious. 1756. f^j. gygjj g^j-^ assault. 

Fearing lest this was intended, he was alert to discover any 
purpose of the kind, and kept out his patrols in the direction 
of Fort Cumberland, whence the blow must come. It was on 
such a scouting party that Celoron, who had buried the plates 
on the Ohio, was killed during the summer. 

Dumas had found that he must satisfy himseK with the 
moral rather than with the physical help which had 
his™^de?s. been sent to Canada in the spring. The reinforce- 
ment which had reached Quebec in May had brought 
Montcalm, Levis, Bourlamaque, and Bougainville, but the 
troops were assigned to the more vital points of Frontenac, Ti- 
conderoga, and Niagara, — the latter particularly. As Vau- 
dreuil expressed it, the chief interest of the French lay here, 
for with Niagara wrested from them, Duquesne was but a bur- 
den. Weiser, the Pennsylvania agent, was confident that at 
one time Dumas had not more than two hundred men with 
him; but his flying squads were abundantly supplying him 
with scalps, as he assured his superior at Quebec. 

The general course of the war during the year had afforded 
Shirley re- little couifort to the English. The ministry, under 
called. 175G. qq\qy of liis being able to give them advice, had recalled 
Shirley in the spring, and the Intimation which was given of 
a new military leader caused Morris to think that the interest 
of the war was likely to centre in America. Shirley had already 
suspected that he was to be superseded, but it was not till 
June, after he had got his plans well matured, had placed 
General Winslow of Massachusetts in command of the chief 
army of invasion, and had had a struggle with the intrigues of 
Johnson and his cabal, that he received his definite orders. 
Some of the better men, like Livingston and Franklin, had not 
lost confidence in Shirley, and received the intelligence with 
regret, though Franklin thought that Shirley was little .averse 
to the relief. Webb and Abercrombie had come in 
command, advaucc of the supreme commander, but on July 23 
Shirley received his immediate successor in New York. 
This irritating and irritable nobleman, the Earl of Loudoun, 



OSWEGO AND CARILLON. 379 

lost no time in advising the colonial governors of Lis arrival. 
Shirley outlined his plan for the campaign, and the earl 
promptly countermanded Shirley's orders. There was indeed a 
new aspect to the war. The diplomats of England and France 
had doffed their polite caps, and in May and June re- -^^r de- 
spectively the two countries had declared war. Gov- '^^^^^^- ^"^^e. 
ernor Hardy received the word at Albany four days after Lou- 
domi's arrival. The news reached Dinwiddie in Williamsburg 
on August 7, and Washington knew it at Winchester on the 
17th. 

Meanwhile, there had been a glimmer of good fortune, owing 
to Shirley's prevision. He had recruited a body of whalemen 
from New England, and put them under the command of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bradstreet, to man a flotilla of bateaux 
and protect the communications with Osweco. In success. 

175fi 

July, this amphibious little army had valiantly de- 
feated a body of French who were trying to interrupt those 
communications. This success availed little, however, for a few 
weeks later the spirited Montcalm had invested the forts at 
Oswego, and was using npon them the batteries which Brad- 
dock had lost on the Monongahela. By the middle 
of August, the post was in French hands. The result takes os- 
might have been different if Loudoun had followed 
Shirley's advice and thrown two regiments into the forts. As 
it was, the French success virtually settled the year's campaign. 
It alarmed the English at Albany enough to paralyze their 
other movements. It released Montcalm so that he hastened 
to Carillon (Ticonderoga) and kept watch upon Wins- 
low at Fort William Henry. With this obstruction cariuon. 
of the English plans the season ended. The result of 
all was that the French had maintained themselves on Lake 
Champlain, and had obtained a footing on the southern shore 
of Ontario, strengthening the barrier in this direction against 
the English advance into the Great VaUey. 

If Shirley had been shelved, his rival had been given no new 
chance of martial distinction. Johnson had indeed 

.11 1 Johnson 

been put to the service in which he shone most, brings 

_, . . , Teedyuscung 

There had been for a long time ominous rumors that over to the 
the Six Nations were treating with the French, and 



380 TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1756, 1757. 

had goue over to the enemy. By an adroit bearing, Johnson 
was at last in a jjositiou to treat at Onondaga with the con- 
currence of Teedyuscimg, and on July 21 the Iroquois and the 
Delawares were brought round to the English interests at a 
conference, which was strengthened by later conciliations at 
German Flats in August and September. 

Meanwhile, the Delaware chieftain was negotiating an inde- 
TheDeia- pendent understanding with the Pennsylvanians at 
tT/peuutyi- Easton. They might have made a peace, as it looked, 
vaniaus. •£ Loudoim had not interfered on the ground that Sir 
William alone was authorized to make Indian treaties. This 
interruption came at a time when it was looking black on the 
Pennsylvania border. Fort Granville, one of the exposed 
stockades, had been taken (July 30), and it seemed as if the 
frontiers were recoiling everj^where, and communica- 
Byivania tious witli Forts Lyttlcton and Shirley were growing- 
precarious. The war appeax-e'd to be assuming fresh 
violence, and it must be met ; but after a while a lull came, and 
the public mind adjusted itself to new movements when the 
assembly, after much persuasion, had made an appropriation of 
thirty thousand pounds, " for the king's use," as their language 
of subterfuge put it. 

George Croghan, whose trading interest had suffered by the 
George ^ar, was relieved from the immediate perils of bank- 

Croghan. ruptcy by the Pennsylvania Assembly in their anxiety 
to have so influential a friend sent among the Indians along the 
frontier. He had not disappointed expectation, unless in the 
lavish use which he made of the money appropriated for appeas- 
ing the Indians. The government of the province did not treat 
him in just the spirit he thought he deserved, and he resigned 
his commission. It seemed a fortunate thing, both for the 
crown and his province, when Johnson recognized his value, and 
some months later, on November 24, made Croghan his deputy 
in the management of the savages in Pennsylvania and on the 
Ohio. 

The events of the next year (1757) were even more discour- 
aging for the English. There had been quiet along the borders 
of Pennsylvania and Virginia during the winter ; but in the 
early spring rumors were rife of a gathering of French at Fort 



THE INDIANS. 381 

Machault .(Venango) for an attack on Shamokin. The French, 
however, were too much engrossed with a counter- shamokin. 
solicitude, for any such desperate purpose. Vaudreuil, ^"^^' 
in April, was issuing anxious orders and urging De Ligneris, 
now in command at Diiquesne, to strengthen that post. An 
extreme scarcity of provisions prevailed in Canada. The posts 
on the Ohio so suffered from this cause that the men were 
scattered to pick up subsistence. Later in the spring and in 
the early summer, rumors of a French advance thick- ^^^^^ ^^ ^ 
ened along the frontiers, and the nimble scouts kept vance!' ^^' 
the borderers anxious. Discordant stories about the ^^^^' 
force which De Ligneris had with him probably arose from 
his habit of sending out his scalping parties in a body, to be 
broken up when well within the enemy's borders. These par- 
ties coming and going kept the force in the fort inconstant in 
numbers, and this accounts for the irreconcilable figures which 
were from time to time reported to Sharpe or Dinwiddle. 
Occasionally there were stories of flotillas from the Mississippi 
bringing munitions and men to the French. Whenever a 
French prisoner was taken, he was pretty sure to magnify such 
recruiting. These exaggerations served to dismay the English, 
particularly if the prisoner could add that parties from the 
Illinois had come in to De Ligneris, besides occasional squads 
of Cherokees and Creeks. 

Such was the summer's history, — rumor and counter-rumor ; 
and it ran well on into the autumn. By October, however, it 
was feared that the French successes at the north had given 
them the opportunity to hurry forward a contingent from Niag- 
ara, which rendered an advance from the Ohio more than prob- 
able. Upon such recurrent reports the garrison at Fort Cum- 
berland was astir. The Indians, usually friendly. The south- 
had become emboldened. The Cherokees and Cataw- ®™ Indians. 
bas were wandering about in a sulking mood, and in some 
places the neighboring Indians had proved so unruly that the 
militia was made ready for an emergency. 

The same untoward condition of the English projects at the 
north had fostered fresh discontent among the Six The north- 
Nations and the dependent Delawares. The fleeting ®™ Indians. 
months make a long record of conferences which only post- 
poned the end. The Iroquois could not, or would not, restrain 



382 TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1756, 1757. 

their young warriors from scalping expeditious. Joliuson la- 
bored with the Shawnee and Delaware embassies with little 
effect. The Senecas and Cayugas were unmistakably hostile, 
and interposed to prevent the Dela wares of the Ohio from 
imiting with their Susquehanna brothers in any peaceful plan. 
By midsummer, Johnson began to have some success in keeping 
a part, at least, of the tribes in a neutral disposition. His 
immediate neighbors, the Mohawks, with the Oneidas and 
Tuscaroras, were more easily held. 

His deputy, Croghan, had at the same time a passing success 
with Teedyuscung, who, " considering how he loved 
Teeciyus- stroug liouor, bchavcd very well." Croghan managed 
during the summer, by wheedling the Delawares and 
cajoling the Senecas, to bring that wary chieftain into one of 
those intermittent spasms of peace which the Indians were 
prompt to exhibit to those who would pay for it. They were 
always pretty sure to leave their brothers on the Ohio untram- 
meled for other negotiations of a like kind. Much the same 
sort of truce was purchased for a while with the Cherokees. 

Any successful negotiation with the savages was at such a 
Pitt in period remarkable, and testified to the skill of Johnson 

power. ^j^^ j^ig deputies. Pitt, of whom no one had greater 

expectations than himself, had, indeed, in the early summer, 
come into power ; but hardly in time to effect much change in 
the American plans before another season. These were still 
Loudoun's doomcd to mismanagement through the fussy imbecil- 
pians. j^y q£ Loudoim. Early in the spring, the colonial gov- 

ernors, meeting him at Philadelphia, had learned that his mili- 
tary strategy was centred in a movement north, in connection 
with another to#ard the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was appar- 
ent that the passes of the AUeghanies were to be left to their 
fate, a scant protective force looking out for the border as well 
as it could. 

The actual campaign opened in March with a bit of good 
Rigaud l^^ck for the English. Eigaud, a brother of Vaudreuil, 
Fort wfi- ^^tl distrusted by Montcalm, was foiled in an attempt 
liam Henry. ^^ surprisc Fort William Henry by stealing upon it 
over the frozen lake. Meanwhile, Loudoun sailed away from 
New York to do great things at Louisbourg. While he was 

Note. The opposite map la Emanuel Bowen's map of the country of the southern Indiana, 1764. 



384 TWO DISMAL YEARS, 1756, 1757. 

gone, Montcalm, by a clever bit of strategy, got between Fort 
Edward and Fort William Henry. There was small skill and 
less courage in Webb, who was in Fort Edward. He had an 
opportunity to act with spirit, and chose to be pusillanimous. 
He played into Montcalm's hands, and advised the commanding 
Fort wu- officer at the lake to surrender. The red flag came 
faX^Tu^ down on August 9, to be followed by a revolting mas- 
gust, i(0(. gacre, perpetrated upon the disarmed garrison by the 
savage auxiliaries, which included a body of Miamis and some 
western Indians led by Charles de Langlade. 

The young John Adams, when he heard of it and of Lou- 
doun's panicky return from his bootless errand, likened the 
royal generals to millstones hung about the colonial neck. The 
seaboard, up and down, got the dismal news in August, and 
everybody brooded upon the disasters. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

1758-1759. 

The winter of 1757-58 in Canada was one of ill-advised con- 
fidence and gayety. For two years the French had 
held their own and more. Success brought its har- 1757-58. 

, I'll 11 • • French and 

pies, and peculation had rotted the commissariats. English 
The falsities of life were sapping the future. 

During the same season, among the English, there was need 
of buoyant prophecy to keep off grim despair. Two years of 
miserable conduct of affairs had done their work. Amid the 
depression, there was a latent hope of something better in a 
winter expedition ; but such woodsmen as Croghan shrunk from 
the wild rigors of the northern winter, and had little faith that 
officers of European habits could endure the suffering. Pow- 
iiall wrote to Pitt that nothing but an overwhelming force 
thrown into Canada could turn the tide. That minis- 

Pitt. 

ter, already addressing himself to the military prob- 
lem, had wisely propitiated the provincials by removing dis- 
criminations which had favored the royal commission, and by 
making the provincial a sharer of the advantages of his rank. 
If Pitt had been as wise in selecting the leader to be trusted, 
all w ould very likely have been well ; but when he Abercrom- 
chose Abercrombie to lead, and gave him his appoint- geneJar"* 
ment at the very end of the woeful year of 1757, he ^^^^' 
rounded out its record of disaster. The plans for the new 
year were not much different from what had long been the mil- 
itary scheme. Fort Duquesne was restored to the 
prominence of a goal, as it had been m Braddock s year, campaign. 
and General John Forbes was selected for its reduc- 
tion. This was the extreme western flank of a comprehensive 
plan, which left to Amherst and Wolfe the movement on the 



386 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

eastern flank in an attack on Louisbourg, while Abercrombie, 
with Lord Howe as second, was to advance upon Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point. 

By July, the campaign was at an end, as far as these latter 

movements were concerned. The rather sluggish te- 
CapeBre- nacity of Amhcrst had gained Cape Breton, from 

which he returned to Boston, to start at once for Al- 
bany to support the central army, after its great catastrophe. 
The weakness, if not poltroonery, of Abercrombie had made 
the fifteen thousand men who had with flaunting parade floated 

down Lake George struggle back from Ticonderoga 

Abercrom- o oo o 

we's defeat, two tliousand Icss, after having inflicted only a fifth 
of that loss on the French. Amherst met a dispir- 
ited army, which had lost its idol. Lord Howe, in a futile skir- 
mish, and found Abercrombie undone. It was apparent that 
the catastrophe must be neutralized elsewhere. 

In August, the current changed. Bradstreet, who had in the 
Bradstreet prcvious ycar managed his whaleboat men so adroitly 
Frouteuac. *^" ^^® Ououdaga, had unexpectedly slipped across the 
^^^^- lake to Fort Frontenac. He had with him three thou- 

sand men, and when it became known down the St. Lawrence 
that the fort with all its guns, provisions, and goods was lost, 
and that the nine vessels in its harbor with their armaments 
were captured, there was reason for consternation, for it meant 
to the French that the command of the lake was gone, and no 
supplies could be got through to Niagara and Duquesne. What 
to do was a difficult problem, and Vaudreuil and Montcalm, 
never in harmony, were more than ever disagreed. It 
tiiefaiiof was already feared that Duquesne had been taken. 
" It is idle to flatter ourselves any longer," was the 
talk. " Canada is lost, if peace is not made this winter. The 
English have sixty thousand regulars and provincials in Amer- 
ica. We have not five thousand. The English colonies can 
furnish two hundred thousand men ; Canada at the best can 
supply only about ten thousand, and with it all the Indians are 
everywhere turning against us." There may have been more 
discouragement than truth in such figures, but they were dis- 
heartening in any event. 

We turn now to consider the direct assault of the Enalish 



FORBES'S CAMPAIGN. 387 

upon the defenses of the Ohio. The pacification of the In- 
dians in this region before Forbes began to move was porbes's ad- 
of great importance. To do this fell largely to the ^™'"^- ^^^^• 
assiduity of Croghan. He had in the previous December com- 
plained of the way in which the Quakers were encouraging the 
savage discontent. " They must be mad," he said. 
Their conduct was having its effect through the win- and the in- 
ter, and the French at Duquesne were not without know- 
ledge of it. In January, Sharpe had heard that De Ligneris 
had from two to three hundred men in the fort, who were by 
relays working on a stronger post over the river, " a small dis- 
tance above." While this was going on, he kejDt out about six 
hundred Indians, and it was mainly through them and their 
scouting that the French commander was able to report to Vau- 
dreuil how the Pennsylvania borderers were clustering about 
their forts for protection. 

The southern Indians were restless also, and Fort Chissel 
was built to overawe them. This was at a point over ^he south- 
the divide from the valley of Virginia and near the *'" Indians. 
New River, where the trails from Philadelphia and Richmond 
met and advanced two hundred miles farther to Cum- 

1 1 1 /^ Fort Chissel. 

berland (jrap. 

During March, it seemed as if Teedyuscung was to fall into 
one of his intermittent moods of quiet. The farmers of Penn- 
sylvania were not so easily satisfied as the savage. They had 
not been paid for their assistance in helping Braddoek move 
his army, and Sharpe bluntly told Forbes, now in Philadelphia, 
that he must supply ready cash if anything was to be done. 

Forbes, a man of imperturbable energy, passed the spring in 
Philadelphia, giving what strength he had — for he was 
a sick man — to the task of organizing his army. He Phiiadei- 
had some good lieutenants in Bouquet and others, but officers. 

. . . . 1758 

Washington, who joined him, did not wholly possess 
his confidence, and he found that Grant, who commanded some 
Highland Scots, was not to be trusted. His commissary, Sir 
John Sinclair, was not a fortunate choice. One hardly knows 
whether he was imbecile or simply vexatious. The service of 
his department in supplying stores and securing transportation 
was doubtless a trying one. The country people were provok- 
ing, and the friendly Indians tedious in negotiation. Forbes 



Forbes's 
route. 



388 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

himself, generally temperate in his utterance, was prompted at 

times to berate the dilatory and self-seeking Pennsylvania boor. 

The force which was gathering for Forbes was heterogeneous 

His force. enough. Bcside the Highlanders, there was a body 

of royal Americans — mainly German-Americans — 
and whatever provincial rangers and militiamen coidd be got 
together by robbing the garrisons of the frontiers from the 
Susquehanna to the Altamaha. 

It was the last of June when Forbes himself left Philadelphia, 

and in his weakness he had to be borne in a litter. 

The question of the ultimate route over the mountains 
was one in which Forbes and Bouquet differed from Washing- 
ton. The Virginian argued ardently for the Braddock route, 
because it was already opened, and its difficulties were under- 
stood and could be met. The alternative passage, which would 
lead the army by Carlisle, Bedford, and so on to the Pennsyl- 
vania passes, was shorter, and would have to be made ready. 
Bouquet talked over the advantages of each with Washington, 
but neither could convince the other. Bouquet thought the 
Virginia colonel " had no idea of the difference between a party 
and an army." There were very likely some counter-views 
based upon the future trade of the rival provinces. Virginia 
did not care to have a better road for trading purposes opened 
north of the Potomac to increase the facilities of Pennsylvania. 
Pennsylvania was not content to be dependent on one south of 
it, constructed for the behoof of Virginia. Whatever the inner 
secrets, Bouquet prevailed, and Forbes was to advance over the 
Pennsylvania passes. In July, Major Armstrong, with his 
pioneers, was hewing trees and leveling obstructions. Grant 
with his Highlanders and Lewis with a body of provincials fol- 
lowed for support. 

In August, General Forbes had not gone on farther than Car- 
Forbes at lisle, and here he learned by letter from Abercrombie 
carusie. himsclf of his rucful failure. The fallen soldier was 
as confused in his recital as he could well be, though he could 
not disjmise what seemed to have been an irretrievable disas- 
ter. There was more comfort in the story of Amherst's success 
at Louisbourg, which came about the same time, and Forbes 
caused the camp to make merry over it. 

The general's health, meanwhile, was the subject of grave 



GRANT'S DEFEAT. 389 

apprehension. Some clays lie gained apparently ; on others he 
grew worse ; but he was patient. Though this ad- p-orbes's 
vance of his army seemed slow, he was satisfied with ^'^'^i*''- 
it, for postponed action was, as he felt, the best disorganizer 
of the Indian allies of the French. Impatience always loosens 
the Indian bonds. Forbes was accordingly anxious to give, by 
delay, more time for this influence to work. 

It was a sad mischance for the French that some one of their 
emissaries at Detroit had spread the report that the 

T . , , , •I'll- 1 The French 

Iroquois were doomed to be annihilated, in order to aud the 
remove the great bulwark of the English. The boast 
reached the Delawares, and had already been repeated to the 
Seiiecas. It was just one of those blunders that Johnson was 
on the watch for, and he used the story to great advantage. 
Not uninfluenced by it, Teedyuscung was also quieted on the 
Susquehanna. 

With this influence at work, affecting the French interests, 
there was a chance for a skillful and couraoeous Eno^- 

® . . ° C. F. Post 

lisli ao'eiit to do g-ood deeds amono: the Ohio tribes, outheowo. 

1758. 

Governor Denny found the best man for the task in 
Christian Frederick Post, an honest and fearless Moravian, who 
had for years familiarized himself with the savages, and married 
two wives among them. He kept a journal on his expedition, 
and we can follow him step by step, only to be captivated by the 
guileless simplicity and straightforward confidence of the man. 

He left Philadelphia on July 15, and on September 9 he had 
turned homeward. In less than two months he had accom- 
plished his purpose of making the Ohio Indians ready to give 
a welcome to the army led by Forbes. The warriors protected 
Post even in going boldly into the French camps at Venango 
and the forks. 

It was some days after Post had started homeward, when 
Grant marched his Highlanders rapidly ahead of his Grant's de- 
support into the vicinity of Duquesne. He was seem- ^^^^- ^^^^• 
ingly actuated by the hope of making a sudden capture of the 
fort. " His thirst for fame," said his general later, " brought 
on his own perdition." The French sallied from their defenses 
(September 15), aud of his eight hundred j)laidsmen. Grant 
left three hundred on the field. His defeated force then re- 



390 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

treated upon tlie supports. It was a stupid act, and wlien, two 
months later, the news of it reached Montcahii, he thought Du- 
quesne had been saved for a time, even though the difficulties 
of succoring it might compel its abandonment in the spring. 

This heady venture of Grant had its bad effect on the Indi- 
indiancon- ^^^' ^^^ *^® Pcnnsjlvanians entered upon a new con- 
Easton^^Oc- ferencc at Easton in October with a certain disadvan- 
tober, 1758. tagc. They went farther, however, than some of the 
over-mountain land companies were inclined to allow. They 
pledged faith to the Indians that the trans- Alleghany spaces 
should be sacred to the savage for his hunting-ground, and no 
Land ^^^ should occupy them except with the tribes' permis- 

coinpames. gjoQ^ Thcrc wcre at this time at least three million 
acres of these very lands alienated to different companies. 
Only recently the Greenbrier Company had patented a hundred 
thousand acres on the river of that name. There were of course 
rival claims in behalf of more than one colony for these western 
wilds ; but it was the misfortune of the Indian never quite to 
comprehend the white man's rivalries. 

Post was again sent out with a new wampum belt which ex- 
pressed this immunity for the Indian lands. He n'ow 

Post's 

second added to his eaidier success in winning the hesitating 

mission. o o 

tribes. 

After this, Forbes had little to fear from the Indians, and 
Forbes at wlicu he reached Loyalhannon in October, where Bou- 
non!^"octo- <1^®^ ^^^^ formed a camp, he sent forward a messenger 
ber, 1758. ^^ warn the Indians to keep west of the Alleghany, 
lest they should be involved in the battle which was to come. 

While the camp was at Loyalhannon, the enemy's scouts hung 
about, and at one time ventured upon an attack, but without 
success. The weather, however, was bad, making the roads 
heavy, and the advance was delayed. The poor general, up and 
down with his malady, was now within fifty miles of his goal. 
He waited till the 18th of November, and then, taking twenty- 
five hundred picked troops in light marching order, he pushed 
rapidly ahead, himself still borne by his men. His van was 
startled on the 24th by a heavy, rumbling sound, long-drawn 
out. Presently, his pioneers came upon the stark bodies of the 
slain Highlanders of Grant, and a ghastly row of heads was 
stuck on poles along the way. The sight inflamed the passions 



FORT DUQUESNE. 



391 




FORT DUQUESNE. 
[From the Pennsylvania Archives, 1790, App. p. 430.] 

of the men, but when the fort was reached there was no one 
upon whom to wreak vengeance. The dull boom had accom- 
panied the blowing up of the fort, and its garrison 
was in flight. The English had marched an average destroyed. 

1758. 

of ten miles a day, and it was November 25 when 
they entered the ruined fort. On the 26th, Forbes wrote to 
Governor Denny, announcing that he had invited the headmen 
of the Indians to a conference, and he hoped " in a few words 



392 



THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 



and in a few days to make everything easy. I sliall then set out 
[he adds] to kiss your hands, if I have strength left to carry 
Pittsburgh ^"® through the journey." This unquailing hero hut- 
named. ^^^ j^jg j^gjj about the ground, called the spot Pitts- 




Cxunl) erlf 

- ^ 



PORT MASSAC AND VICINITY. 
[From the general map of the Ohio in Callot's Atlai, 1826.] 

burgh, after the great minister, and placing Lieutenant-Colonel 

Mercer in command, left for Pliiladelphia. 

The fugitive French went off in detachments. De Ligneris 
led the best fighting material to Fort Machault at 
Venango, and soon after began to send out his emis- 
saries to win biick the Indians. Aubry conducted the 



The fupri- 
tives from 
Duquesne. 




THE LOWER OHIO. 

[Showing Fort Massac and the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. From Callot's 
Atlas, PI. xi.] 



394 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON 

rest in boats down the Ohio. Thirty or more miles before the 
Mississippi was reached, this officer stojiped to rehabilitate an 
old stockade known as Fort Massac. Placing a garrison in it, 
he went on, bearing most of his cannon, and finally found rest 
at Fort Chartres. 

Forbes reached Philadelphia, but did not long survive. In 
March, 1759, he died, with the satisfaction that he had 
done in his feebleness a heroic action, and had restored 
the red flag to the Great Valley. " The capture of Louisbourg 
is the more striking," said Bouquet, " but the capture of Du- 
quesne is the more important." The English hold on the Ohio 
had been secured ; it was yet to be gained on the Stv Lawrence. 

There was little doubt from the beginning that the cam- 
Campaign paigu of 1759 would paralyzc the military power of the 
of i.o9. French and render easy its ultimate destruction. The 
only hope of Montcalm was that a defeat in Canada would not 
carry the surrender of Louisiana. He hoped it might leave 
debatable the country of the Illinois, which had been alternately 
considered a part of Canada and of Louisiana. There was at 
one time a chance that Louisiana could be saved by landing a 
French force in Carolina to divert the English attention from a 
northern campaign. It was a belief that if this incursion failed 
to maintain itself, it could fight long enough to work its way to 
the Mississippi, and so unite with any remnant that might be 
left of the Canadian defenders. But the plan was too hazard- 
ous, and the record of the project is of interest only as a symp- 
tom of desperation. 

At the end of the last campaign, Vaudreuil had warned the 

home government of the inevitable catastrophe if 

heartened^' Fraucc did not succor her colony. With a popula- 

"^^' tion of 82,000, and only 20,000 able to bear arms, 

— militia, woodsmen, and Indians, — Canada could not expect 

to maintain the unequal contest. Langlade might indeed bring 

a hundred or two of the western Indians to the rescue, 

but what was that to the entire defection of the Mia- 

mis ? Except the Delawares, there seemed hardly a prominent 

tribe left to be involved in this final struggle, which had not 

been swuns: over to the Ensflish side. 



AMHERST'S CAMPAIGN. 395 

In their intestine affairs the Canadians were no more for- 
tunate. The governor and Montcalm had never intestine 
agreed, and now that they were on the brink of ruin, Canada?^ 
their disputes grew hotter. Bougainville had been ^''*^- 
sent over to France to represent the gravity of the situation, 
and in the spring of 1759 he had returned without a word of 
encouragement. There were no soldiers to be spared for the 
colony. If there were and they were sent over, they would be 
intercepted by the English fleet. If this should not happen, 
they could not be provisioned. Such were the disheartening 
alternatives. The only ray of better fortune was that the gov- 
ernment had recognized the necessity of placing Montcalm in 
an independent position as the military leader, and when Bou- 
gainville delivered to that gallant soldier this new commission, 
it was the only hope with which he was charged. " Our gen- 
eral would like to multiply us and send us everywhere," was the 
feeling ; but with Quebec, Niagara, and the Ohio to defend, and 
with forces insufficient for the defense of any one of them, the 
struggle could not last long. " Canada will be taken," wrote 
Montcalm on April 12, " this campaign, or assuredly during the 
next, if there be not some unforeseen good luck, or a power- 
ful diversion by sea against the English colonies, or some gross 
blunders on the part of the enemy." In the same letter he 
charges the French commissaries on the Ohio as disturbing by 
their peculations the relations with the Indians. " If the Indi- 
ans had a fourth part of what is supposed to be expended for 
them, the king would have all of them on his side, the English 
none." 

With the English there was as much confidence as there was 
disheartenment on the side of the French. In Europe, -n^g English 
England's ally, Frederick of Prussia, had indeed passed •^o'^^'J™*- 
the bounds of success, and was desponding at the turn of affairs ; 
but Pitt felt that the war was to be won in America. On 
December 29, 1758, he had outlined the campaign to Amherst, 
who was to do the work, or at least to be held respon- 
sible for it. He himself was to take charge of the charge. 

1759. 

direct northern attack by Lake Champlain. By the 
end of June, he was at Lake George with eleven thousand men, 
half regidars. After beginning a fort, he started with a flotilla 
down the lake on July 21. Bourlamaq^ue retired before him 



396 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

from TIconcleroga and Crown Point. The modern tourist sees 
to-day at Crown Point the heavy ruins of the fort and barracks 
which Amherst tarried to buikl. He was timing his progress to 
join before Quebec an auxiliary force ascending the St. Law- 
rence. Of this army he had been anxiously awaiting intelli- 
gence, but the scouts whom he had sent north were foiled, and had 
escaped capture by flying down the Connecticut valley. There 
was another but very circuitous way to learn how Wolfe, in 
charge of this other force, had succeeded, and to convey to him 
the story of Amherst's o-wn progress. This was by disj)atching 
a messenger to Boston, who should then reach Quebec by the 
Kennebec and Chaudiere valleys, — the route by which Arnold 
conducted his unfortunate expedition sixteen years later. From 
Crown Point Amherst sent such a messenger to say that he was 
preparing the flotilla in which he expected to advance against 
the French vessels, which were at Isle aux Noix. There was a 
long delay in getting this armament ready, and when everj^thing 
was prepared in October, Amherst feared the autumnal storms 
and never started. The French, however, blew up their vessels, 
rendering easier the next year's advance by that way. 

If the campaign had accomplished nothing more than the 
commander-in-chief had carried out, Pitt might well have won- 
dered if hopes and outlay had been repaid. Fortunately, the 
campaign had been decided at Quebec and Niagara, on the two 
flanks. 

The lesser of these two auxiliary movements reacted on the 
greater, and we need to follow them both connectedly. 

Wolfe's o ' ^ J 

campaign. In May, Wolfc was at Halifax making his preparations. 
He next transferred his force to Louisbourg, having 
three brigadiers under him, — Monckton, Townshend, and Mur- 
ray. During June, the fleet of Admiral Saunders conveyed 
Wolfe's transports up the St. Lawrence. 

Montcalm, with his army in Quebec and along the river be- 
low the town, was preparing for the attack, with about fourteen 
thousand men of all sorts and over a hundred guns. He had 
some armed boats and had improvised fire-ships, which in the 
end failed of their purpose in several trials against the English 
vessels. Vaudreuil, still obstinate, knew that Wolfe had landed 
nine thousand men on the island of Orleans, and he thwarted 



NIAGARA ATTACKED. 397 

Montcalm's purpose to fortify Point L^vis, opposite the city, on 
the south side of the St. Lawrence. This mischance Wolfe took 
advantage of, and seized that commanding ground, so necessary 
to his fleet. The movement was in some respects a hazardous 
one, for it divided his army, and placed a deep river between 
the two parts ; but he knew that his own fleet controlled that 
river. This naval supremacy again induced him to make a 
third division, and place a force on the northern shore of the 
river, below the Falls of Montmorency. 

While the situation on the St. Lawrence was thus in a 
considerable degree one of peril, events liappening at Niagara 
had decided the fate of the Ohio country. We must glance 
at them before showing their effects both on Wolfe and Mont- 
calm. 

It was the English plan to save the Ohio at Niagara. Mili- 
tary critics have sometimes urged that the force sent 

The attack 

against Niajrara could have been more effective as a on Niagara. 

1759. 

part of Amherst's army, but it is doubtful if that gen- 
eral could have gained celerity by an increase of force. If he 
was capable of such acceleration, it is possible the capture of 
Montreal might have taken place a year earlier, and the battle 
of Ste. Foy been avoided. It would have risked, however, the 
hold that Forbes had secured on the Ohio, and ])erliaps have 
aided that escape to Louisiana which was the ultimate hope of 
the Canadians. 

In March, 1759, Bouquet had succeeded in temporary com- 
mand of the department, which included the Ohio, 

• n • 1111 11 Bouquet's 

pending the arrival of Stanwix, who had been ordered command. 
to Philadelphia. There were about a thousand men 
at the forks, and it was quite possible that the French, if bound 
to recover it, could bring a much larger force against it. W^hat 
policy to pursue, if attacked. Bouquet and Amherst were not 
agreed upon. Bouquet was for retreating before an attack in 
force ; Amherst for acting defensively till the post could be 
relieved from Fort Ligonier and the other Pennsylvania stock- 
ades. In April, all was quiet along the Alleghany, but before 
the month closed, the governor of Pennsylvania thought it pru- 
dent to send the Moravian, Post, to the Senecas to see if any 
mischief was hatching. 

That the French had intended to regain the forks seems cer- 



398 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

tain, as Croghan believed, but the English advance toward Ni- 
The French ^gara had disconcerted their plans, and by early July 
Aiierfuuiy!'^ it had been necessary, under orders, for the French 
^^^^- to abandon the Alleghany in the hope of aiding in 

the defense of Niagara. The river was too low to transport 
the heavy stores, and they were sacrificed. Such portions as 
were not acceptable to the Indians were piled in the fort at 
Venango, and the whole was fired. The boats that had been 
prepared for a descent upon Fort Pitt were destroyed, and their 
swivels were buried. The fugitive garrison made its way by 
Le Bceuf, where a similar destruction took place, to Presqu' 
Isle, and there a new surprise awaited them. 

Prideaux, one of Amherst's brigadiers, keeping his communi- 
cations open through Oswego, — which La Corne vainly 
attacked. tried to dcstroy, — had advanced upon Niagara in 
force, while Pouchot, the commander of that fort, was 
awaiting reinforcements from the western posts. Prideaux be- 
ing killed early in the attack, the command fell to his second 
in authority, Sir William Johnson, who completed the estab- 
lishment of the besieging lines. Hearing now of the approach 
of Aubry and De Ligneris with the western party, Johnson 
promptly passed up the river to confront them. It happened 
that the same day saw the fort surrendered, and its succoring 
force hurled back by Johnson. The fugitives fled to Presqu' 
Isle, where they were joined by those who had abandoned 
Venango. The united bodies continued their flight to Detroit. 

Niagara, the long-coveted entrance to the Ohio valley, was 
Wolfe and ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ liauds of the victor, and Fort Pitt was safe. 
at*Queb™. Such wcrc the tidings which in these midsummer days 
^'^''*" reached the rival generals on the St. Lawrence, and 

were a cheer to one and disheartenment to the other. The 
effect on Wolfe was to spur liim on to greater risks. lie sent a 
frigate to run by the batteries of Cape Diamond, while his men 
dragged boats overland from Point Levis, and embarked above 
under the protection of the frigate. This was a fourth partition 
of his army, and the risks were quite commensurate with the 
stakes. The desperation of Montcalm, to whom the tidings of 
Niagara had also come, was equaled only by that of Wolfe. 
Both commanders were playing their game at fearful odds ; and 



WOLFE AT QUEBEC. 399 

but for his isolation, the French general might very well expect 
a victory as Frontenac did, when the fleet of Phips dotted the 
broad basin before him. The season was rapidly slipping away. 
Montcalm was perhaps losing the most by the delay, but nei- 
ther the spirit of the English general nor the constancy of his 
troops could endure much longer without a trial of arms. He 
hoped to force an engagement near the Montmorency, but his 
effort failed. He withdrew his men at this point, and it was 
done with great good luck. Almost aimlessly, or at least without 
knowing j)recisely how to employ them, Wolfe pushed larger 
bodies of men up the river, and Admiral Holmes, with a part 
of the fleet, went up to support them. Bougainville was pa- 
trolling the river bank above the town, watching the enemy, 
and covering supply-trains that descended to Montcalm and 
the town. He had about fifteen hundred men with him. Ad- 
miral Holmes had a grim satisfaction in seeing these devoted 
Frenchmen grow footsore and weary, as he let his ships float 
carelessly up and down with the tide, while Bougainville fol- 
lowed abreast to prevent a landing. All the while, Montcalm 
had Levis out, with another flying body of troops, to watch for 
Amherst, who was expected to be plodding down from Three 
Rivers instead of building barracks at Crown Point. By Au- 
gust, the French general, learning the truth about Amherst, was 
relieved of maintaining this wearisome watch. It was not far 
from the first of September when Wolfe also learned of Am- 
herst's position by the arrival of the messenger from the Ken- 
nebec. The news was not encouraging, and it was apparent 
that if Quebec was to be taken, Amherst could have no hand 
in it. The weary weeks that had passed bid fair to be followed 
by as many more, closing with the failure of accomplishing 
anything before preparation must be made to escape an ice- 
bound river. But suddenly a crisis was precipitated. 

Wolfe, doubtful how to turn, was one day scanning through 
a glass from Point Levis the opposite precipice. There was a 
fair field for an encounter above : but the sheer and rug'o-ed 
steep above the water seemed to offer no chance whereby to 
gain the top. His scrutiny at last revealed what looked like a 
ravine, cutting into the precipice, and worn by the rains. He 
conjectured that it probably gave chances for a foothold. The 
French seemingly recognized the chance it offered to the enemy, 



400 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

but deemed it small, for, as Wolfe counted the tents of the 
guard at the head of the ravine, he saw that the force was scant. 
One Stobo, a provincial, who had been a captive in Quebec 
and had escaped, confirmed Wolfe's supposition as to the prac- 
ticability of the ascent, if the men had bold leaders. 

Two things favored a movement by this ravine. Bougain- 
ville, who was likely to confront the attempt if openly made, 
was easily carried up the river, out of support of its French de- 
fenders, by the oft-tried manoeuvre of Holmes, whose ship under 
a favoring wind could be borne beyond the strength of the rising 
tide. The other advantage was fortunately revealed to Wolfe, 
when he learned that Bougainville was intending to send down 
a flotilla of supplj^-boats to the beleaguered town the first dark 
night, trusting to the deep shadows of the bank concealing them 
from the watchful English. The French guards and batteries 
along the shore were informed of the project, and would have 
their suspicions quelled at any similar procession of boats. 
Wolfe therefore determined to anticipate the French project. 
Arranging that Saunders with his ships below the town should 
divert attention by feigning an attack on Beauport, a suburb 
below the St. Charles, Wolfe was ready^ when the darkness 
deepened to shove his boats, with their thirty-six hundred men, 
directly under the bank. The long file of boats moved silently 
down, and every hail from the shore was treacherously answered, 
so that not a suspicion was aroused. Tlie ravine was reached 

and his van was at the summit before the alarm was 
Plains of sounded. A foothold secured, details were sent up 

the river to capture the guns that might annoy the 
rear portion of his flotilla, and this prompt action secured for 
Wolfe a position on the field with all the trooj)s which he had 
intended to handle. 

Montcalm's headquarters were across the St. Charles, this 
minor stream forming with the St. Lawrence the promontory of 
Quebec, and when the day dawned, the red line of the British, 
stretched across the plain, was conspicuous beyond the valley 
to the startled gaze of the French. Montcalm saw that a crisis 
had come. To allow Quebec to be taken by assault on its land 
side would insure the turning of its captured guns upon his own 
camp. It has been held that Montcalm's safer course would 
have been to throw reinforcements into the town, and while it 



MURRAY AT QUEBEC. 401 

stood the attack, to worry the English flanks. Such a phm did 
not well suit the celerity and pluck of such a soldier as Mont- 
calm, and he adopted the bolder alternative of fighting, line 
against line, before the gates of the town. 

Both sides thus cast the die, and at ten o'clock in the morn- 
ing the hostile lines were advancing face to face. The 
clash was a brief one. Just as the French were re- 
coiling before the British impact, Wolfe was stricken down by a 
bullet, and died. The surging mass of the French was rolling 
back upon the gates, when Montcalm also fell. He was carried 
into the town to die. The French fell back within the walls 
and secured the gates. 

After a while the tumult had reached Bougainville, who hur- 
ried back to fall upon the English ; but the rearguard under 
Townshend presented so solid a front that the French thought 
it i^rudent to retire. The English thus had opportunity without 
further molestation to secure their position before the town. 
They passed the succeeding night in making preparation. The 
morning revealed that the troops which Vaudreuil vaudreuu 
had kept with him beyond the St. Charles had fled in ^^®^' 
the dark, leaving their tents standing. The fugitives made a 
forced march to Cape Jacques Cartier, thirty miles up the St. 
Lawrence. Here, as if chagrined at his precipitancy, the gov- 
ernor sought to lead his men back ; but he learned on the way 
that Ramezay had surrendei'ed Quebec, and the British were 
now everywhere in possession. 

Thus, on the 13th of September, fifteen minutes of heady and 
riskf ul conflict on the Plains of Abraham had practi- j^^ yaueys 
cally settled the fate of the St. Lawrence valley. "We s*'"®'^- 
have seen that a combat, not much longer protracted, coming 
in the nick of time, had near Niagara determined the future of 
the Ohio basin. The campaign had been epochal. 

Munitions were thrown into Quebec, Murray was placed in 
command, and by the middle of October Saunders, 
anxious to get his ships out of the river before the ice commanding 
formed, sailed away, bearing the body of Wolfe. The 
victory of the Plains of Abraham had indicated, but did not 
constitute, the end. Before another English fleet with rein- 
forcement returned in the spring of 1760, the English garrison 
in the town had been put to severe trials. A luckless battle 



402 THE OHIO AND ST. LAWRENCE WON. 

had taken place at Ste. Foy, one of the suburbs in which Mur- 
Battie of ^^y ^^^^ taken risks, which came near causing a re- 
ste. Foy. deeming success for the French, since but for the 
opportune appearance of the English fleet, as the spring opened, 
Quebec might have again been under the French flag. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

1760-1762. 

When, on May 9, 1760, the leading ship of an English fleet 
hove in sight from the citadel of Quebec, Murray saw that he 
was not to suffer all the evils which his ill-advised and head- 
long onset at Ste. Foy might well have prepared for him. Levis, 
who, having pushed his opponent within the walls of 
Quebec, was now keeping up an artillery duel with from before 
the town, saw with dismay the English ships destroy 
and scatter his auxiliary force upon the river. He accordingly 
fled with precipitation, leaving guns and stores behind him. 
He had inflicted upon Murray the loss of about a third of the 
English force, and he now found himself hurrying to Montreal, 
painfully conscious that his own sacrifices had gained him little 
beside the well-earned laurels of Ste. Foy. 

Pitt had hardly counted on such folly as Murray had shown, 
but the fleet which he had ordered up the river at 
as early a moment as the ice would permit showed paignof 

•^ ^ 1760. 

his purposes to make the success of Wolfe some- 
thing more than a barren victory. The minister now looked to 
Amherst to sweep the remaining French from the valley. 
That commander was already laying his plans to converge 
upon Montreal with all the forces at his disposal, and in April 
he had instructed Monckton at Pittsburgh to make sure of his 
communications with Niagara, and then to send forward to 
that post a force sufficient to hold it, so that its regular garri- 
son could join the general advance upon the St. Lawrence. 

It was evident that Vaudreuil and Levis were now segregat- 
ing all available forces at Montreal. They were keep- ^^^ French 
ing out small corps of observation down the river and p'^*" 
toward Lake Champlain, and were determined to stand on 



404 THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

the defensive as long as tliey could, in the hope that the Eng- 
lish combinations would miscarry, or some blunder be made by 
which the French could profit. The English plan of 'closing in 
upon Montreal upon three sides was pretty sure, if well timed, 
to force its surrender ; but the chances of war are always open 
to an alert antagonist held at bay, and watching for breaks in 
his adversary's plans. 

Amherst, himself commanding one of these aggressive forces, 
Amherst's ^^^ rendezvoused at Oswego about eleven thousand 
plans. men, including a force of Indians under Johnson. 

Amherst's part was to advance through the Thousand Islands, 
capture Fort Levis near the head of the rapids, and approach 
Montreal on the up-river side. Murray was to advance from 
Quebec with twenty-five hundred men, strengthened with a 
force of thirteen hundred, which Lord Rollo had brought from 
Louisbourg. The third army, which was to advance north 
upon Lake Champlain, had had the way opened for it the pre- 
vious season when the threatening front of Amherst had forced 
the French to burn a part, at least, of their flotilla. 

These lesser movements were reasonably well timed. Bour- 
lamaque, who was watching Murray, fell back as that English 
ofJicer advanced, and Haviland, commanding on Lake Cham- 
plain, easily forced Bougainville down the Sorel. These two 
French forces found no difficulty in joining Vaudreuil in Mon- 
treal, so that the way was clear for Murray and Haviland to 
put themselves into communication. When all this was done, 
Amherst had not yet appeared above the town. The interval 
was seized by the French to send off Langlade in charge of two 
companies of English desei-ters. His instructions were to lead 
them west and send them down to New Orleans, out of reach 
of the enemy in the event of disaster. 

The French now in and about Montreal numbered, all told. 
The French scarccly morc than twenty -five hundred effectives, 
in Montreal, ^^{l\^ 's,\\q\\ a forcc tlicrc was little chance in measur- 
ing strength in the open field with Murray and Haviland, while 
Amherst was close at hand. The French accordingly abided 
developments. There was not long to wait. Amherst soon 
arrived, and, joining all the forces, he held an army of seven- 
teen thousand men in his circumjacent lines. There was some 
hesitation on the part of Vaudreuil in approaching his doom, 



OCCUPYING THE WEST. 405 

mainly for the sake of show ; but on September 8, the capitula- 
tion was sij^ned. It g-ave up not only Montreal, but 

n /-I 11- 1 1 • All 1 Montreal 

all Canada and its dependencies. Ail troops, wher- and Canada 
ever they were stationed, were to become prisoners September ' 

8 17C0 

of war, later to be transported to France in British 
ships. The exercise of the Catholic religion was guaranteed, 
and private property was to be respected. Vaudreuil had con- 
tended for the preservation of the French code ; but Amherst 
was stubborn, and English law was hereafter to govern the con- 
quered territory. The British general did not forget the sad 
experience of his government with the Acadians, and the folly 
of anything short of an absolute dominion was not to be re- 
peated. So something like sixty-five thousand French were at 
a moment swung beneath the folds of the banner of St. George, 
as subjects of George the Second. The news did not reach 
England in time to gratify the old king, who had in- George n. 
trusted so much to Pitt. On October 25, George had October 
swooned in his bedchamber, and fallen against a chest ^''^' 
of drawers. Thus he died. The tidings did not reach Boston 
till December. 

Precisely what the area was that Vaudreuil's capitulation 
covered very likely neither he nor Amherst cared to ^j.^^ ^j ^^^ 
determine too exactly. At all events, the terms given <=o"<i"^s*- 
and accepted were open to later dispute. It was two years and 
more before the diplomatic disputants of the two governments 
agreed upon the final result. 

Amherst hastened to get control of as much of the west as 
he could, and did not wait long before dispatching Robert 
Rogers, the well-known partisan scout, with about two hundred 
men in whaleboats, — George Croghan was in the party, — to 
proceed along the Lakes and receive the surrender of the distant 
posts. Passing by Niagara River, Rogers entered Lake Erie 
and tarried for a while at Presqu' Isle, so as to communicate with 
Monckton at Pittsburgh. On October 17, this officer Monckton 
notified Governor Sharpe of Maryland that on the and Rogers. 
previous evening he had received i^mherst's orders to send 
forward garrisons for Detroit and the other western stations. 
He further informed Sharpe that he needed militia to take the 
place of the royal Americans, whom he was to detach to Rogers's 



406 THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

command. By November 7, Rogers, still following the southern 
shore of the lake, had reached the mouth of a river not easily 
identified, but probably near the spot where the modern Cleve- 
Rogersand ^^^^^ stauds. Here a band of Ottawas confronted him 
Poutiac. g^jj^i manifested some distrust, which was soon, however, 
overcome. Rogers in his journal does not mention that Pontiac 
was on the spot, though in another publication which passes 
under his name. The Concise Account of North America^ Pon- 
tiac is not only represented as being present, but as bearing 
himself rather insolently at first. Parkman and historians gen- 
erally have accepted the narrative of the Concise Account as 
a trustworthy development of the cruder statements of the 
jom*nal; but Kingsford, not without reason, had been led to 
suspect that the Account was more likely than not an embel- 
lished narrative, worked up as a catchpenny venture by the 
publisher. This view, if accepted, throws not a little doubt 
over the scene, in which it has been ordinarily held that Pontiac 
for the first time — barring his conduct in the defeat of Brad- 
dock — stands forth in American history. 

As Rogers approached the western end of the lake, rumors 
Rogers and began to reacli him that Bellestre, who commanded in 
Beiiestre. Detroit, was endeavoring to arouse the Indians about 
him, so that he could resist the English. Rogers took occasion 
to send ahead a French prisoner, whom he chanced to have, who 
could give Bellestre assurances of what had happened at Mon- 
treal. He was also prepared to inform that officer of the in- 
structions for his guidance which Vaudreuil had intrusted to 
Rogers's care. The warning had a good effect, and Rogers, 
landing below the town, was politely received and suffered to 
Detroit scud forward a detail to take possession of the post, 
occupied. j^ ^yj^g ^^ November 29. 1760, that the English flag 
replaced the Bourbon, and a crowd of seven hundred capering 
ravages vociferously greeted the change. 

Detroit was now a stockaded settlement of about one hundred 
Its condi- houses, givcn up to the domiciled French and to the 
''""• vagrants who huddled about the ]>ost. Perhaps half 

a hundred farmsteads, with their rude buildings, were scattered 
up and down the river bank. Various Indian villages dotted 
along the stream showed how attractive the tradinsr-post had 
become to the savage rover. There was a reminder of less 



ALONG THE LAKES. 407 

prosperous times, when tlie English saw the horses which were 
put to service in the neighborhood, for they learned that they 
were the descendants of animals that had been taken on Brad- 
dock's field. 

Parties were now sent off to secure the forts which the French 
held at the portages of the Maumee and Wabash, and other posts 
open the trail to Vincennes. There were, perhaps, at °'=<="P'<'^- 
this period some three thousand French in the Illinois country, 
but the question of their allegiance was to be left to the diplo- 
mats. Of the posts at Mackinac, Green Bay, St. Joseph, and 
the Sardt Ste. Marie there was no such question, and Rogers 
started to go to them. The season, as it happened, was too far 
gone, and it was no easy task to buffet with the ice of Lake 
Huron. He accordingly returned without accomplish- Rogers re- 
ing his object. Putting Captain Campbell in charge of cJcmnber 
the post at Detroit, Rogers started east on December ^'^^• 
21, and on January 23, 1761, he reported to the commander .at 
Fort Pitt. 

When the spring set in, Alexander Henry, a trader, starting 
from Montreal, and wearing the garb of a French- Alexander 
Canadian, pushed on with canoes by the Ottawa route, Mackmac. 
and established himself at Mackinac. He found the ^^^^' 
Indians about that post discontented with the prospects of Eng- 
lish rule. A few days later, a force which Campbell ^he En lish 
had sent from Detroit to take possession of Mackinac ^^Jje^ aiJn 
arrived. Within a few months, one after another of "'^ ^^'^''^• 
the posts on the upper lakes saluted the English flag, and before 
the season closed, not a French banner was floatinsf throuo-h- 
out the valley of the St. Lawrence and the Lakes. 

The feeling which Bellestre had manifested at Detroit, and 
which Henry had found at Mackinac, showed that the ^he Indian 
Indian problem was by no means settled with the van- I'^'^'^iem. 
ishing of the Bourbon emblems. The relations of the English 
and the Indians were not much changed by the French becom- 
ing subjects of Britain, and by ceasing to be rivals, for if the 
jealousies of the French were no longer open, they were more 
dangerous from being insidious and stealthy. The johnson and 
English had produced a few men who were the equals of ^'^■**'""- 
the French in tactful management of the savao-e. Johnson was 



408 THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

still a power, but unfortunately Conrad Weiserhad just died 
(July 13, 1760), — a man of sixty-two, wlio had given mucL of 
his life to j^acifying the Indian. No one better than Weiser 
appreciated the influence of gratuities in compassing the savage 
wiles. English and French had long outbid each other 

The English, . ,.,.., . c ■ p i i -i 

French, and HI this distribution 01 giits, and the tribes had reaped 
the harvest. Without the stimulation of French 
rivalry, it was likely the English would fall off in their gifts. 
Such a relaxation meant but one thing, — a weakening of the 
hold upon the Indians. Nor was it only this. The English 
trader, having no longer a rival in the French, would find him- 
seK relieved of the necessity of fostering a sympathetic address, 
and would relapse into that churlish temper which belonged so 
naturally to him, and was particidarly irritating to the Indian. 
In this respect the English trader was as a rule a remarkable 
contrast to the French. Kalm teUs us that while there are 
numerous instances of the Frencliman becoming more Indian 
than the savage, there is not one of the Indian becoming a 
Frenchman. The half-breed took much more naturally to the 
race of the wild mother than to the associations of the white 
father. 

If Weiser was no longer to play the part of mediator, he 
George ^^^^ behind a hardly inferior intercessor in George 
andtoe" Croghau. Adair speaks with amazement of Cro- 
indians. gkau's succcssful daring in face of the greatest dan- 
ger. He wonders at the way in which Croghan succeeded in 
" pleasing and reconciling the savages." Such a man, Adair 
contended, was worth more than a garrison in troublous times. 
The truth unfortunately was that the English traders were not 
commonly prudent, and the French made the most of the defect. 
It was mainly a question of better trade with the English and 
of better neighbors with the French. So it was that in disas- 
ters which had now overtaken the French, the Indian saw that 
he was deprived of a friend who respected his rights to his an- 
cestral lands, and in the success of the English he saw no help 
to keep his heritage from vanishing. 

This preservation of his hunting-ground was still to be as it 
^^ ^ had been, the most vital interest of the savage. The 

The Easton p \ r 

treaty of treaty of 1758 at Easton had been an agreement on 

1758. -I <• . 

the part of the Pennsylvanians to prevent settlers 



BOUQUET AND THE OHIO COMPANY. 409 

passing the mountains. It had been approved by his ma- 
jesty's ministers, and so had all the validity of a general stat- 
ute, though the provinces of Maryland and Virginia had not 
formally acceded to it. 

Monckton, who in May, 1760, had succeeded in command of 
the southern department, under an appointment from Amherst, 
had so far prevailed with the Indians of the Ohio as to get 
their consent to the founding of posts in the wild country, with 
only so much land about the stockades as would support the 
garrisons. In this both red and white found their advantage ; 
but it was quite otherwise with the unauthorized settlements of 
the frontier vag^rants. Of this latter class the Indians com- 
plained bitterly. That their complaints were iustified 

■*■ A J Frontiers- 

we have the evidence of Sir William Johnson, at the men and the 

T c o 1 CI Indians. 

north, and of Stuart, the agent of the government at 
the south. It was notorious that these frontier miscreants 
were debasing the savages with liquor, and then pretending to 
purchase their lands. Bouquet, now in immediate command at 
Fort Pitt, represented to the governor of Virginia that " vaga- 
bonds, under pretense of hunting, were making settlements of 
which the Indians made frequent and grievous complaints." 
Bouquet was a man of high character, and not very tolerant of 
wiles, as his letters show, and it was his aim as well as his duty 
to protect the rights of these savage wards. Such a ^^^^ ^^^^_^^^ 
purpose was hardly reconcilable with the intentions of the Ohio 

i^ i- >> . ™ Coiupauy. 

the Ohio Company, or at least with the aims of some 
of its agents. That body, now that peace was in sight, was 
preparing to profit by the grants which had been made to it 
south of the Ohio, and its agents, whether authorized or not, 
were undertaking to secure the influence of Bouquet. Colonel 
Cresap, representing that company and detailing to Bouquet 
what this officer calls a " bubble scheme of settling the Ohio," 
offered to him in July, 1760, a share of twenty-five thousand 
acres in the company's grant. Bouquet was polite but wary, 
and significantly referred to the obligations of the treaty of 
Easton. He pointed out how sure a way it was to bring the 
confiding Germans and Switzers, who were counted upon to fill 
up the land, into unmerited grief by setting up a colony with- 
out first providing a government for their protection in a re- 
gion too remote for support from the established colonies. The 



410 THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

correspondence ended in Bouquet declining the bribe. During 
the next few months, Bouquet was doing what he coukl to 
remove all interlopers along the Monongahela, acting under the 
Bou uet's express orders of Monckton. His efforts failing of 
prociama- ^yhat he wishcd, in October, 1761, he issued a procla- 

tion. Octo- ' ' ' ■*• 

ber, 1701. mation, prohibiting aU settlements beyond the moun- 
tains without the permission of the general or of the governors 
of the provinces. Such licenses were to be lodged with the 
commanding officer at Fort Pitt. When this document reached 
Williamsburg, it created not a little uneasiness, especially as 
it placed offenders beyond the operation of the civil law, and 
made them amenable to martial law. On January 17, 1762, 
Governor Fauquier wrote in protest not only to Bouquet, but to 
Amherst. It could have been no satisfaction to the Virginians 
that Bouquet was much more inclined to open communication 
with the Ohio by the Susquehanna than by the James. Bou- 
quet, however, claimed no purpose of interfering with patented 
rio-hts, further than to establish formal requirements for regis- 
tration ; but announced his purpose to deal stringently with 
all unauthorized invaders of this western territory. Amherst 
stood by his subordinate in the position he had taken, but cau- 
tioned Bouquet to be discreet, for " no room must be given for 
the colonies to complain of the military power." Bouquet was 
not without suspicion that this apprehension in Williamsburg 
was to be traced to the discontent in Virginia at his thwarting 
the purpose of Washington when he caused Forbes to take his 
line of march, in 1758, through Virginia rather than by the 
Pennsylvania gaps. Already, on December 11, 1761, orders 
had been issued to the colonial governors absolutely forbidding 
them to make any grants of land at variance with the Indian 
rights. 

The prospect of peace was already inciting a new movement 
farther south. Daniel Boone first crossed the moun- 

Daniel . . „ni\ -\ n i • i i j. 

Boone tauis lu 1760, and carved his name on a beech-tree 

crosses the . . , 

mountains, near the Watausfa Kiver, where it is to be seen to-day 

1760. » ' ^ ^ •' 

if report is true. lie returned to give a glowing 
account of the promise which the valley presented. Every- 
where the deciduous trees betokened to such an eye as his the 
richness of the soil. It was to him a harbinger of a future 
landscape spotted with girdled trees, with corn waving between 



THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. 411 

the stumps, and smoke curling from tlie open roof of the set- 
tler's cabin. There was to come the house of logs with a clay 
chimney, and the woodsman teaching his boy to shoot squirrels 
in the head so as to save their skins. In the year following 
Boone's venture. Walker is said to have led a party of nine- 
teen to hunt along the Tennessee, and year after year others 
penetrated farther into the wilderness. 

Still farther south, the influence of Louisiana had not been 
affected by the surrender at Montreal. Governor 
Bull of South Carolina complained that the French and the 
from New Orleans were pushing their trade hard upon 
his frontiers, and were using goods which had been obtained 
from Rhode Island. The French were believed to be urging 
the Creeks to commit depredations upon the English, and the 
Mortar, the most powerful leader of these Indians, was making 
bold to assault one of the frontier forts. The Upper Creeks 
having declared war, it was a question whether anything could 
be done to prevent the defection spreading to the Lower Creeks 
and Cherokees. Two traders, George Galphin and Lachlan 
M'Gilwray, were sent to stay the mischief. But the ^he chero- 
Cherokees had become implacable. They had never ^^'^^' 
forgotten the castigation they had received from the Germans 
of the valley of Virginia, when fallen upon as they returned 
from the Forbes campaign, on the supposition that they had 
been stealing horses at the frontier. This tribe had now been 
reduced to between two and three thousand warriors, but they 
were wary fighters, and were rendering existence along the 
borders of Carolina a succession of miseries. It took two 
years to bring them to terms. Governor Lyttleton forced them 
one season to go through the form of yielding, but they rallied. 
Others who swept through their country laid villages waste, 
but were balked at last. The Indians captured Fort Loudon, 
a post on the Cherokee River, and broke faith with its garrison, 
a part of which was murdered after surrendering. Amherst 
was finally forced into sending against them a body of twenty- 
six hundred Highlanders under Grant. He scoured Grant's 
their country west of the mountains for thirty days, the^ciirro-' 
and succeeded in forcing them to a peace. His ^^^^' 
treaty with them pushed the frontier forward seventy miles, and 



412 THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

made It run along the heads of the streams flowing into the 
Atlantic. Timberlake, an officer who was in these movements, 
printed some memoirs a few years later, in which he tells how 
he ventured boldly among them after the peace, and found that 
the French had acquired a firm hold upon them, and that it 
was only the allurements of the English trade that finally 
brought tliem to a peace. 

But a far greater difficulty was brewing at the north, des- 
The Indian tiucd to couvcrt the valley of the Ohio into a bloody 
ft^the**^"* arena. The distrust and apprehension which the 
north. trader, Henry, had found among the Indians at Mack- 

inac was soon apparent to Cam^jbell among the tribes hy which 
his post at Detroit was surrounded. He was so convinced of 
the coming danger that he dispatched messengers to the other 
posts beyond him, advising their commandants to be alert. 
When the demand was made upon the tribes scattered along 
the straits to give up their English prisoners, they nearly all 
readily complied, but the Wyandots persisted in a surly de- 
meanor. With the rest, Campbell was beguiled into dealing out 
ammunition on the plea that they were anxious to lend the 
English assistance by marching against the Cherokees. But 
this profession soon passed, and it became evident that emis- 
saries of the Iroquois were exercising spells upon them which 

boded no good. Such was the condition when Sir 
at Detroit. William Joliuson appeared on the scene (1761), bound 

to restore confidence if he could. It seemed for a while 
as if he had succeeded. Croghan felt that the interviews had 
been successful, for in October, 1761, he reported to that effect 
to Bouquet, ^yho was now at Fort Pitt. But the repose was a 
snare. The influence of the French was deeper seated than was 
suspected, and it was nursed by the sympathy of their compa- 
triots at New Orleans and in the Louisiana settlements. The 
French on the lower Mississippi were already looking to Span- 
ish support, and the Indians were circulating reports that France 
and Spain were only waiting the fitting moment to recover 

Quebec. What was a rumor seemed to be confirmed, 

England and . . i- -i nn • ^ 

Bpainat whcu, in the springf of 1762, it became known that 

war. 1762. x. o ' 

England, early in January, had declared war against 
Spain. The news had reached Boston in March, when Han- 



THE IROQUOIS AND MIAMIS. 413 

cock sent an express to Amherst in New York, and by May, 
Bouquet had transmitted the necessary warnings to the western 
posts. The Spaniards were a new enemy for the English in 
the interior, but the ease with which they had come from New 
Mexico by the branches of the Missouri was a warning that 
what was now territory in English possession on the upper Mis- 
sissijjpi and Lake Superior might be open to Spanish Danger to 
incursions. The English were prompt to send a de- we^stern^"^ 
tachment to protect the traders in the region of the p°***' 
present Minnesota, and in August, Gladwin, commanding at 
Detroit, was directed to establish a post on Lake Superior. 

Croghan and others, who were watching the darkening moods 
of the Indians, were now becoming confirmed in the belief that 
an Indian war could not be avoided, and that the hostilities 
would be widespread. 

When the Iroquois had overcome the Andastes and absorbed 
the survivors of them in their own villages, these adopted chil- 
dren had amalgamated with their victors, and had migi'ated to 
the Ohio. Here the conglomerate body had acquired ^iie Mingoea 
the name of Mingoes. Affiliating in their new home ""^'^^y- 
with the Delawares, other dependents of the Iroquois, they 
were nursing a long-felt hatred of the English. Alexander 
McKee, a trader, was reporting in November, 1762, that they 
and their neighbors were making ready for an outbreak. Back 
of the Mingoes there was the powerful influence of the Senecas, 
at present the most aggressive of the Iroquois confederacy. 
They were probably largely responsible for the spread of 
the savage antipgithy which was now imperiling the English. 
With their thousand warriors, these Indians had a firm hold 
upon the Shawnees, Delawares, and Wyandots, who numbered 
together perhaps as many more fighting men. The prospect 
was so alarming that Sir William Johnson was urging ^he iroquois 
the policy either of removing all settlers from the un- '*°'^ Miamis. 
purchased lands of the Iroquois, or of making compensation for 
them. The Twightwees of the Wabash region had remained 
so far reluctant to break with the English, and the thousand 
warriors which they and the other parts of the Miami confed- 
eracy could throw into the scale against the French influence 
constituted a ground for hope which the English were glad to 
cherish. 



414 THE TRANSITION FROM WAR TO WAR. 

Johnson computed that the united Iroquois could put on a 
Extent of wai'-f ootiug uot far from four thousand men, and that 
warriors. ^|-jg westci'u tribes could offer nearly twice as many 
more, making- in the aggregate about twelve thousand warriors. 
The estimate is certainly large enough, and Parkman doubts if, 
in all the country east of the Mississippi, north of the Ohio, and 
south of the latitude of Lake Superior, more than ten thousand 
fighting Indians could at this time be gathered. Perhaps the 
.pjjg most effective force among all these peoples ^as the 

ottawas. Ottawas. They occupied what is now known as the 
southern peninsula of Michigan, and their influence stretched 
into the area southeast of Lake Erie. They had been strong 
contestants for their territorial rights, and had been taught by 
the French to make pretty constant dependence u[)on gifts for 
favors rendered. The change of power at Detroit had inter- 
fered with this supply of gratuities, and they had grown to 
believe that they were to expect nothing hereafter for their 
concessions. Strong in the alliances of the Foxes, Sauks, and 
other tribes about Mackinac, they coidd lend to any warlike 
purpose something like three thousand warriors. For their 
vigilance and intrigue the Ottawas were most to be feared of 
The Pontiac ^^ ^^'^ wcstcm tribcs. It was Johnson's belief that 
^^''' what is known as Pontiac's war found its first impulse 

among this tribe. When Pontiac stood under the great coun- 
cil elm of his tribe, near the portage of the Maumee, and 
harangued his followers and the delegates from his allies, he 
was, in Johnson's view, if not the originator, the conspicuous 
embodiment of a rising power that was to strike terror along 
the English border. 

But there were new political developments destined to crown 
the ambition of Pitt, and which gave England a poi'tentous 
position in North America, and especially in the valley of 
the Mississippi, that intervened before the actual outbreak of 
this impending war. We need now to consider the work of the 
diplomats. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

1762-1763. 

The campaign of 1760 had convinced France tliat the end 
was near. She had lost Canada, and with the ill suc- 
cess attending her arms elsewhere, she had little hope England in 
by victories on other soils to regain her American pos- 
sessions. With England, war and trade had joined for her col- 
onial aggrandizement ; with France, war had not strengthened 
her colony, nor had trade developed it. It was the necessity of 
France to enter into negotiations for peace. She might yet try 
by diplomacy to regain as much as she could. The vagueness 
of the territorial terms of Vaudreuirs surrender at Thetem- 
Montreal was something by which her negotiators dered'a^"^" 
might possibly profit. It might, perhaps, enable them ^o"*''«'^- 
to throw as much territory as possible within the bounds of 
Louisiana, and thus place it outside the limits of the English 
conquest. Vaudreuil had evidently intended to leave just this 
chance to the diplomats. The definition of the bounds of what 
he surrendered was vague. In the sequel, he claimed to have 
included in his capitulation nothing south of the territory 
bounded by the height of land at the head of the streams flow- 
ing into the basin of the Great Lakes. This seems to agree 
with what is shown in the Atlas Moderne (Paris, 1762), in a 
map by Janvier. The understanding of the English was, or at 
least when the negotiations began, they claimed, that Canada 
included not only the basin of the Lakes, but also that of the 
Wabash to the Ohio, and all west to the Mississijjpi. 

When, on July 15, 1761, France proposed terms of peace to 
England, she offered to cede Canada as Vaudreuil sur- pg^ce pro- 
rendered it, with bounds on Virginia and Louisiana. p°^''^*' ^^^^" 
The British cabinet in their reply, July 29, insisted upon their 



416 



THE TREATY OF PEACE. 



own definition of VaudreuiFs surrender, and would not admit tliat 
the Ohio country was included in Louisiana, or that Louisiana 
abutted on Virginia. On August 5, the French in a communi- 
cation shifted their ground, and while agreeing to cede Canada 
" in the most extensive manner," proposed to interject along 
the western verge of the Alleghanies a neutral strip for the 




. C.HiU 

L<^ Okakoh 



[This extract from Jefferys' map shows the proposed neutral territory, being the gourd-shaped 
area stretching from Carolina to the north of Lake Erie.] 

use of the Indians and for serving as a barrier. This neutral 
region is shown in two maps by Jefferys of the British, French, 
and Spanish settlements in North America, as "proposed by 
M. de Bussy in 17G1." It included the peninsula north of 
Lake Erie, western New York, eastern Ohio, and the eastern 
portions of Kentucky and Tennessee. In one of the maps the 
southern shore of Lake Erie is not taken in, and in the other 
it is for a larger part made a portion of this Indian reservation. 
This scheme of a neutral barrier-land, much like another talked 
of twenty years later, in the preliminary discussions of the 



CANADA OR GUADELOUPE f 417 

treaty of 1782, was now promptly rejected on August 16 by the 
British government. They insisted unreservedly on the limits 
of Vaudreuirs surrender as abutting on territory which they 
had always claimed, east of the Wabash and south of the Ohio. 
They would in no sense consider this to be neutral, holding- 
it to be already under the protection of the English by virtue 
of treaties both with the Iroquois and the southern Indians. 
Nearly a month later, on September 13, France yielded to the 
English claim for the bounds of Canada, but not enough in 
other ways to satisfy Pitt. 

This minister was now reaping the penalty of his success, 
and the aggrandizement of the Commons, which the 
new king's friends thought he was effecting, raised up fromthe^"^ 
an opposition in the king's council, which in October ™""^ ^^' 
forced his resignation. Pitt had surmised the purpose of an 
offensive alliancie of France and Spain, and had desired to 
precipitate action to forestall its results. This was one of the 
test questions in which he found himself balked by ^arwith 
the friends of the king ; but within three months Bute, ^p^'"' ^^^^• 
succeeding to Pitt's office, was forced by developments, which 
Pitt had keenly anticipated, to declare war with Spain on Jan- 
uary 4, 1762. 

Negotiations for peace having so far failed, public interest 
was turned once more to a question which had been 
in controversy for two years. Ever since the fall of ada bean- 
Montreal, it had been api^arent that there was growing Brmsh em^^ 
up in England among influential classes a conviction '""^'^ ' 
that after all ib was a questionable policy which would in the 
final treaty wrest Canada from the French. It was claimed by 
such doubters that more would be gained by retain- ^r ouade- 
ing the island of Guadeloupe, which had fallen into '°"p®^ 
the British hands among their West Indian conquests. 

To one who, like Franklin, held a strong faith in the great 
domain which the fall of Montreal had secured, the intimation 
of any abandonment of the results of the long war was a pain- 
ful thought, and the strong feelings which he harbored made his 
advocacy of the retention of Canada the most notable Prankiin 
of a large swarm of controversial pamphlets, called '"""^ ^"'^'^«- 
forth by the dispute. The tracts on the other side, which 



418 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

sliowecl equal ability, sprung probably from the able pen of 
William Burke, assisted very likely by his moi*e distinguished 
brother. 

Franklin at one time said of England that the little island 
Their argu- ^^^^ " scarce euougli of it to keep one's shoes dry," and 
ments. Y\Qr Contracted insularity had hardly fostered as yet 

any dreams of imperial range. She could scarcely appreciate, 
he thought, the boundless possibilities of such a territory as 
now lay open for her colonization. The ardent American 
looked forward, with the population doubling every quarter of 
a century, to a time when the vast interval between the Alle- 
ghanies and the Mississippi could ultimately house and feed a 
hundred millions of people. To part with this for the paltry 
island of Guadeloupe was simply, as he urged, the interest of a 
sordid and unimaginative mercantile spirit, which looked to the 
present profits of the sugar trade, and was unjust to the Ameri- 
can colonies. '* To leave the French in the possession of Can- 
ada, when it is in our power to remove them, and to depend on 
our own strength and watchfulness to prevent the mischief that 
may attend it, is neither safe nor pi'udent." " Canada in the 
hands of the French," he says again, " has always stunted the 
growth of our colonies," and it was no welcome thought to 
apprehend that in the future, Canada, still under the French, 
could render the peace of America dependent upon the hazards 
of European complications. 

It was one of the arguments of the discontents that with the 
retention of Canada the growth of the seaboard colonies west- 
ward would nurture " a numerous, hardy, and independent peo- 
ple, who would become useless and dangerous to Britain," while 
with Canada restored to the French, the colonists would find 
that " a neighbor who keeps us in awe is not always the worst of 
neighbors." Such arguments as these intimated the revelations 
that the same generation was to discover in the relations of the 
mother country and her colonies. Franklin met them by point- 
ing out the slender chance of danger to England with colonies 
whose jealousies had always prevented united action in the face 
of the greatest necessity for it. But he added, with an air of 
prescience, " When I say such a union is impossible, I mean 
withovit the most grievous tyranny and oppression." He fur- 
ther argued that this spreading westward meant the fostering of 



PRELIMINARIES. 419 

an agricultural people, not a manufacturing one, who would be 
buyers and not rival makers of English handicraft products. 
The dissentients also alleged that it could not be profitable for 
Great Britain to hold possessions two hundred miles beyond the 
coast and back of the mountains, because the expense of car- 
riage would make merchandise too costly to be sold. To this 
Franklin replied, with a clear perception of what the Missis- 
sippi might become, that the Ohio to a sea power like England 
was really nearer to London than the remote provinces of France 
and Spain were to their home manufactures. The arguments 
of Franklin were to prevail. 

In the interval of suspended negotiations, and amid the 
financial distress of France, and with no military success illumi- 
nating the gloom, Choiseul was beginning to think that if he 
could not make war, he could at least bring peace. With a 
party in England thinkino- that this makino- of war had 

,,1 ni 1 • 1 Peace nego- 

taught them how to nnd a peace, there was no imped- tiations re- 
iment to the resumption or negotiations in September, September, 
1762. In the conferences which thus hastened to a 
result, Bute, now British minister, had shown that he was will- 
ing to accept less than Pitt had demanded, but nothing except 
exactions which were still stringent coidd have satisfied the lurk- 
ing determination of the British people to make France drink 
deep of her humility. Feeling the debasement keenly, 
France finally agreed to preliminaries on November 3. ries of peace. 
The approval of the terms was under discussion in the 
Commons on December 9, when Pitt, coming in late, wrapped 
in flannel, and leaning on a crutch, made one of his histrionic 
sj)eeches, in condemnation of the leniency of the ministry. It 
was without avail, and the House approved the terms. It might 
not have done so, however, if it had known that on the same 
day, at Fontainebleau, November 3, Choiseul and Grimaldi, the 
representatives of the crowns of France and Spain, had 
agreed that what was left of Louisiana west of the sion of*the 
Mississippi, but including the island of New Orleans tife^Missis-° 
on the east bank, should be transferred from the flag *'^^'" 
of France to that of Spain. On the 13th and 23d, respectively, 
this secret cession was approved at the Escurial and by Louis, 
though it was not to be known to the world for fifteen months. 



420 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

It was January 21, 1763, when Amherst, in New York, hear- 
Cessation i^S" ^^ ^^^^ preliminary treaty, announced to Bouquet, 
jlnuary 21, ^^w at Fort Pitt, the cessation of arms. The Duke 
^'^^- of Bedfoi'd acting for England, Choiseul for France, 

Grimaldi for Spain, and Mello for Portugal, the terms of 
Definitive ^^^ treaty were made definitive at Paris on February 
FebJukry 1^' ^^^ ^^^ ratifications were exchanged among the 
10, 1763. contracting powers a mouth later. The promulgation 
of it was made on May 4, and on July 31, Gage, at Montreal, 
informed Egremont that he had issued the proclamation of 
peace. 

New France had disappeared, and not a foothold was left to 
New France ^^^ Freucli Bourbous Oil the coutiiieut of North Amer- 
disappears. -^g^^ Fraiicc had represented to Spain that it was for 
Sj^anish interest to encourage her American ambition, because 
New France could stand between the mines of Mexico and the 
greedy English. Now she had brought the Spaniard and the 
England's Englishman face to face across the Mississippi, but 
greatness. ^^^ woi'ld did uot as yet comprehend it. England had 
never before been so great relatively as in this hour of her 
triumph. Pitt's dream of a greater Gallic degradation could 
hardly have raised higher the' fortunes of England. In Amer- 
ica, at least, she had reestablished successfully all that she had 
ever gained by every treaty from Westphalia in 1648 down, 
and she had added to it. She had renounced, indeed, the sea- 
to-sea pretensions of her colonial charters, but she had silenced 
aU opposition as far west as the Mississippi. At the north she 
had acquired apparently forever the region of Acadia, and it 
was no longer of any moment what its " ancient limits " were. 
She had left to France what the treaty of Utreclit had origi- 
nally secured for that country, the two small islands of St. 
Pierre and Miquelon, " to serve as a shelter to her fishermen," 
— a pitiful reminder to France of her continental aspirations. 
We learn, however, what other use she could make of them 
when we find, in September, that these islands were full of 
French goods, waiting to be smuggled into Canada. 

Spain, in return for tlie restoration of Cuba, had been forced 
Florida to yield to England another British conquest, namely, 
Spain. all those lands lying east and southeast of the Missis- 



422 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

sippi wliicli were called Florida, and any pretensions she had to 
the parts about Mobile Bay, which France had occupied, — all 
lying below 31° of latitude. 

In the north, Canada came into the British empire, " with all 
its dependencies," and " in the most ample form and 
Hu°dson's manner without restriction," making, with the terri- 
*^' tory of the Hudson Bay Company, an uninterrupted 

stretch of land toward the Arctic pole, as in the Floridian 
peninsula she had almost touched the tropics. No one wel- 
comed this northern acquisition more than Governor Arthur 
Dobbs, who saw in the boundless contiguity the chance of find- 
ing the western passage, "which I have hoped [he says] to 
attain these thirty years." 

It was of course a question how far the French inhabitants 
of the St. Lawrence vaUey would change their aUe- 
canadians giaucc, aud they were allowed under the treaty eigh- 
new condi- tccH mouths in wliich to determine their future. If 
they stayed, the " rites of the Komish Church " were 
to be assured to them " as far as the laws of Great Britain 
permit." It was found that the change of allegiance was very 
distasteful to the nobility and clergy ; but it was thought that 
the lower classes would console themselves easily. This social 
diversity was not strange, for the change of lordship brought a 
change of society little palatable to the French, who had known 
the amenities of life in the old country. The feudal seigneur, 
hedged about by privileges, free to control the life and limb of 
the peasant, vanished before the English law. Egremont, in 
writing to Murray, August 13, told liim to watch the priests, 
for the subjection of the rites of their church to such curtail- 
ment as the laws of England required had been a bitter potion 
to the French negotiators. " Every priest," he added, " must 
take the oath of allegiance. The French king cannot interfere 
between his Majesty and his new subjects, and no interference 
in civil matters is to be allowed from any priest." 

The western limits of the cession were by " a line drawn 
along the middle of the river Mississippi from its source to 

Note. The opposite map is from a Carte de la Nouvelle France, made for the Compagnie 
Franjoiee of the West. 



424 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

the river Iberville, thence by said river through lakes Maiire- 
pas and Pontchartrain to the sea." The navigation 
Bippiasa of the Mississippi was to be free to the subjects of 
oun ary. Q.j.gg^^ Britain as well as to those of France in its 
whole extent, from its source to the sea, and vessels of either 
nation were not to be stopped or made subject to the payment 
of any duty. This was of course agreed to by England in ig- 
norance of the transmission of the rights of France to Sjjain, 
made on the day of the signing of the preliminaries, and that 
transmission produced later complications with Spain. 

The bed of the Iberville, except at high water, was above the 
surface of the Mississippi, so that the " island " on which New 
Orleans stands did not always exist ; but this condition was 
not embarrassing. It was quite otherwise at the other end of 
the Mississippi, and ignorance of the geography of its 
of the source remained an obstacle to a clear definition of 

' bounds twenty years later, under the treaty of 1782. 

"When the upper waters of the Mississipjji were not at this 
time supposed to be connected with the water-system of Hud- 
son's Bay, the contemporary cartographers placed the 
river's source anywhere from latitude 45° to 55°. 
JefPerys thought it somewhat above 45°. Samuel Dunn, help- 
ing himself from Carver's views, put it, a little later, under 
46°, and he clusters several lakes about the source. Buache, 
the French map-maker, working up the earlier drafts of Delisle, 
now forty years old, jilaces the fountain at 46°, among the 
Sioux. A map based on Danville, and using material gathered 
by Governor Pownall, puts the source in a lake at 47°, due 
south of the Lake of the Woods. The Dutchman, Vander Aa, 
in 1755 puts the springs doubtfully at 55°, but in 1763 he finds 
reason to place a little group of three lakes, out of which the 
river flows from a triple source, under 49°. A French map, 
prepared for the Company of the West, establishes the head 
under 50°. Bowen, in a map produced to show the treaty 
bounds, says the position of the source is uncertain, but that the 
Indians report it under 60°, and in a marshy region. Robert 
Rogers, in his Concise Account ., says that the Mississippi rises 

Note. The map on the opposite page is from Vander Aa's Canada (Leyden). It sliows the 
supposed sovirce of the Mississippi in three lakes In lat. 49° ; the Riviere Longue of La Hontan ; 
the river near La Hontan's lake sui>po8ed to flow to the West Sea j and another river with 8 
eimilar course rising in the Lac des Fanis. 









'*— P 5 "^ 05 '^ 




426 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

in a lake " of considerable bigness," into wliicb flows a stream 
through a notch in the mountains, carrying a red substance. 

Added to this great variety of opinion respecting the posi- 
tion of a distinct source of the river, there were other views 
prevalent among geographers, who still clung to an older notion 
of interlinking inland waters, flowing in different directions. 
It was common for these to connect the upper waters of the 
Mississippi with a reticulation of lakes and streams, having a 
dependence upon Hudson's Bay, and sometimes upon that mys- 
terious channel which formed a union with the western sea. 
Roberts, an English cartographer, in 1760, makes the Missis- 
sippi rise in Lake Winnipeg. Palairet, a French map-maker, 
embodying the joint results of Bellin, Danville, and Mitchell, 
connects the sources with Lake Winnipeg, though he acknow- 
ledges the upper parts of the channel are little known. He 
adds that some suj)pose there is a connection between the 
Mississipjii or Missouri and the Manton [Mandan] River, which 
he represents by a dotted line as flowing ultimately into the 
Sea of the West. This same device of an uncertain dotted line 
is used by Emanuel Bowen, in 1763, to join the upper Missis- 
sippi with the Red River of the North. The NepUme Fi'an- 
^alse has no hesitancy in connecting the MississipjDi with Lake 
Winnipeg, and a most wonderful network of waters is sup- 
posed by Vander Aa on a map of 1755, where the Mississipjii, 
Winnipeg, Lake Superior, and Hudson's Bay are all brought 
into a single system of communication. A few years later 
(1776), Jefferys connects Winnipeg with a fancifid inlet on the 
Pacific coast, which D'Aguilar is supposed to have entered 
in 1603, forming that water-way to the Sea of the West so 
long sought. Explorers in this region were still beguiled by 

the inci-easing Indian tales of the connection of the 
the western Missouri by mcaus of a string of interjacent lakes 

with the South Sea, and there were stories among 
the Dacotahs which shortly after this induced Carver to be- 
lieve that the Shining Mountains [Rockies] stretched from 
about 48° north latitude toward the south, and divided the 
waters flowing into the gulfs of Mexico and California. He 
suspected that north of 48° there was a water-system some- 
how connecting Hudson's Bay with the Pacific, and lyiug 
somewhere thereaway were the Straits of Anian, " which hav- 




[From the GenfJeman^s ilngnzine, December, 1755. It shows the popular notion of the Mis- 
sissippi having its rise in the latitude of the southern end of Hudson's Bay, and indicates the 
supposed River of the West.] 



428 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

ing been discovered by Sir Francis Drake belong of course to 
the English." 

Such was the vag-ue knowledge of this northwest region 
Royal proc- whcu, ou Octobcr 7, 1763, the English king in a proc- 
Octobe°rV^ lauiation, issued with the concurrence of his council, 
^^*^- and in disregard of the sea-to-sea charters, — which 

Kitchin, in his map made to mark the conditions of the peace, 
had been prompt to revive and extend as far as the Mississippi, 
Crown — established as crown lands, to be held for the ben- 

lands. gg^ q£ ^|jg ludiaus, all this vast regioii between the 

Alleghanies and the Mississippi, wherever in the north its source 
might be. 

This proclamation had set up three new governments in North 
Tjjgt^o America, outside the preexisting seaboard colonies. 
Fioridaa. T^^\o of thcsc ucw pi'oviuccs wcro carvcd out of the 
accessions yielded by Spain along the Gulf of Mexico, to be 
respectively East and West Florida. They were to be bounded 
north by the thirty-first parallel, and to extend from the Mis- 
sissippi, with some deflections, to the Atlantic. By this a re- 
gion which had been in dispute between Georgia and Spain, 
embracing the territory from the St. Mary's River to the Alta- 
maha, was added to Georgia. The settling of this and other 
vexed questions long subsisting between the Carolinians and 
the French soon had the effect to force the Indians of the gvdf 
water-shed to conclude a peace. Later, in 1764, the western 
part of the northern line was removed from 31° north to the 
parallel of the mouth of the Yazoo, the source of futui'c diffi- 
culties. 

In Canada, the new province of Quebec was a good deal cur- 
Boundsof tailed from the extent which had constituted what 
Quebec. Vaudrcuil had governed. The definitions of bounds 
given in the proclamation do not agree with modern geography; 
but the province was confined ajiproximately on the north by 
the water-shed of Hudson's Bay. The northern line then ex- 
tended west to Lake Nepissing, taking in the Ottawa up to the 
portage to Lake Huron. It was bounded on the south by a 
due east line, which, in crossing the St. Lawrence and Lake 
Cham plain, was supposed to follow the forty -fifth parallel, the 



430 THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

present northern limits of New York and Vermont, till it 
struck a height of land along the heads of rivers flowing into 
the St. Lawrence, — the source of disputes, which were only 
ended by the compromise of Lord Ashburton and Webster 
in the treaty of 1842. The western limitation of Quebec was 
contrary to the advice of Murray, who desired the Mississippi 
for the farther boundary of the province, but his views were 
overrided in the king's council. 

The object of the council was, as we have seen, to make this 
The crown westem cxpausc an area of crown lands, " for the use 
lands. q£ ^i^g Indians for the present^ and until our further 

pleasure is known." There was in this reserved possibility 
some recognition of the likely demands of the future, which 
Franklin had foreshadowed. Washington is known to have 
looked upon the proclamation as a temporary expedient for 
quieting the Indians. Nevertheless, its promulgation was unex- 
pected, and was very generally considered an affront to the col- 
onies, and an interference with their natural right to subdue 
the earth. The conservative adherents of the crown regarded 
it simply as a needful protection to the Indian. The party of 
progress called it a tyrannous check on the inevitable expansion 
of the race. There was right on both sides. It had been the 
policy of France from the beginning, in preserving game-fields, 
really to put restraint upon settlements, and it had been the 
great cause of her misfortunes. The English had not failed to 
comment in their own favor on the different policy which had 
governed their progress. It was not now pleasant for the colo- 
nists to see their home government slide into what was recog- 
nized as the French system. Edmund Burke, representing the 
aversion which this new policy had aroused in England, pro- 
tested against such an attempt "• to keep as a lair of wild beasts 
that earth which God, by an express charter, has given to the 
children of men." 

The proclamation, in set terms, prohibited the governors of 
Quebec and* of East and West Florida from granting any 
patents for lands beyond their bounds ; and the governors of 
the Atlantic colonies were restrained from allotting any lands 
beyond the heads or sources of the rivers which fall into the 
Atlantic Ocean, or upon any lands reserved to the Indians, and 
not having been ceded to, or purchased by, the king. The 



THE ROYAL PROCLAMATION. 431 

edict also made reservation of all land not included in the three 
new governments and in the Hudson Bay Company's possession, 
and lying westward of the sources aforesaid, " for the use of 
the Indians, and no one could, under pain of the king's dis- 
jjleasure, take possession of any such reserved lands without 
the king's leave, and all persons having already done so were 
required to remove. All j)rivate persons were forbidden to buy 
lands of the Indians ; " but if at any time any of the Indians 
were inclined to sell, it should only be to some one represent- 
ing the crown. 

There was doubtless in all this a number of objects to be 
gained. One was to limit the old colonies by the moun- jhe purpose 
tains, and to discredit the old charters. Another was °^ *^® ^'"^' 
to keep the population within easy reach of the British trade. 
A third was to keep the populace under the restraint of the sea- 
board authorities. Hillsborough, when put to the question in 
1772, made no secret that this was the purpose, though regard 
for the Indian was made the essential object then, and has been 
held to have been so since. It is quite natural to suppose there 
was a large interfusion of various reasons. 

We shall next see that as a measure of pacifying the Indians 
it was too late and of little effect. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

1763-1765. 

The uneasiness among the western Indians, of which men- 
tion has already been made, had, in the spring of 1763, 
indiansim- bccome threatening. There was a rising determina- 
tion on the part of the tribes to forestall renewed en- 
croachments on the Indians' hunting-grounds, which to the sav- 
age mind seemed inevitable while the Euglish were unchecked 
masters of the field. Johnson thought the readiest 

Sir WiUiam „ . , ., . . 

johuson's means oi covmteractmg a hostile rising was to define 

views. 

with exactness some property line, beyond which the 
Indians' possessions should be sacred ; but even this, in his 
judgment, could not maintain the peace without some syste- 
matic plan of gratuities for propitiating the tribes. He urged 
at the same time that steps should be taken to buy from the 
natives the country along the east bank of the Mississippi, from 
the Ohio to the Illinois, and to make it a centre of trade, in 
order to prevent the Indians following the French to the western 
side of the river. He was not alone in urging this project, for 
he had the countenance of Croghan. 

When this entire region north of the Ohio came into the 

British hands, there were in it a few thousand French 

The enst 

bank of the residcuts, traders in the main, the validity of whose 
rights to the soil was recognized by the victors. The 
estimates of their numbers arc various, but it is probable there 
were about twelve hundred adults and eight hundred children. 
Making part of their communities were also about nine hundred 
blacks. A movement had naturally and very soon begun among 
them to seek the cover of their own flag across the Mississippi. 
This impulse was in entire ignorance of the secret transfer of 
that country by France to Spain. It was in August, 1763, that 



ST. LOUIS. 433 

Laclede, representing a fur company, and a party of followers 
left New Orleans with the expectation of establishing LaciMe 
a post in the Illinois country. Arrived there in 1764, Louisf" 
and hearing of the provisions of the peace, he had i^*^3-g4. 
determined upon placing his station on the western side of the 
Mississippi. On the spot where now stands the city of St. 
Louis, two Frenchmen, Chouteau by name, had set up a trading- 
lodge in the previous winter, and here Laclede established his 
new station. It was not long before a third part of the whites 
and a greater proportion of the negroes left their old villages 
on the eastern side of the river, and gathered under the Bour- 
bon flag at this spot. Hutchins, a little later, spoke of the new 
settlement as " the most healthy and pleasurable situation of 
any known in this part of the country. Here the Spanish 
commandant and the principal Indian traders reside, who, by 
conciliating the affections of the natives, have drawn all the 
Indian trade of the Missouri, part of that of the Mississippi 
(northward) and of the tribes of Indians residing near the 
Ouisconsin and Illinois rivers, to this village." 

This exodus of the French from what was now British ter- 
ritory was nat lost upon the western Indians, and they were 
become more than ever conscious that it was with the English 
cupidity for land they were thus left to deal, and without French 
support. The discontent thus increased became a sav- ^he Indians 
age revenge when stories, told them by the French, dis- ""'^'^^^'i- 
closed the English purpose to possess their country by exter- 
minating its rightful owners. 

The British government was not long in getting intelligence 
of this condition at the west, while at the same time it was 
learning of disturbances every way similar among the southern 
Indians, fostered, as was believed, by the French at New Or- 
leans and its dependent posts. As a help to counteract this 
mischief, a large amount of gifts, to the value of some four or 
five thousand pounds, had been sent over to Charleston. There 
was no such liberal policy pursued with the western Indians, 
and Croghan complained in the spring of 1763 that Amherst 
had pursued a too niggard policy with the savages. Croghan 
explained the situation to Bouquet in May : " Since croghan'a 
the reduction of Canada, the several Indian nations ^'®^^" 
this way have been very jealous of his Majesty's growing power in 



434 THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

this country, but tliis last account of so much of North America 
being ceded to Great Britain has almost driven them to despair. 
. . . You will find the Clierokees our enemies, though they 
seem very quiet on the frontiers of Carolina. What obliged 
them to be so is nothing else than the war which the western 
nations have carried on against them with great spirit this two 
years past. They have been this winter endeavoring to accom- 
modate matters, which if they should do may give us more 
trouble than we expect." The trouble was already at hand 
throughout the entire northwest. 

Just before this, Croghan had written to Amherst that the 
Indians about Detroit rebelled at the audacity of the French in 
ceding the Indian lands to the English. Just at the critical 
moment, the general replied rather haughtily that it was of no 
consequence what the Indians thought. They should under- 
stand, he said, that it is for their interest to keep quiet. This 
Gladwin at ^^^ prcciscly wliat they did not intend to do. Glad- 
Detroit, ^'jj^ ^jjQ commanded at Detroit, was quite aware of 
the rising rebellion, and in April had sent words of warning 
to Sandusky and other posts. On the 27th of that month, 
Pontiaciji Pontiac was in council with the warriors which his 
council. runners had assembled from far and near. The Otta- 
was, — his own people, — Ojib ways, and Pottawattamies were 
particularly subservient to his powerful will. Pontiac was 
now a man of fifty, and his pleadings had had their effect as 
far south as the lower Mississippi, and as far east as the Iro- 
quois country. It was here that the Senecas had yielded to 
the movement, if indeed they had not been the first, or among 
the first, to give it impetus. 

The plan which the conspiring tribes had agreed upon was 
Pontiac war. ^^ Hiakc a siuiultaneous attack on a given day upon all 
^'*^' the forts from Pennsylvania to Lake Superior. The 

stroke was to fall in May. The war for a single season (1763) 
was vigorously pushed. It affords the student some of the 
most striking episodes in savage warfare. It was carried on 
with an animated spirit of desperation. Never before had the 
frontier settlements been pressed so rancorously. Two thou- 
sand settlers are said to have been killed along the borders, 
outside the armed posts. The savage foe burst through passes 
of the mountains too numerous to be guarded. Every white 



THE PONT I AC WAR. 



435 



man was driven from the Ohio and its upper tributaries. Every 
post that the French had spared along the river was destroyed, 
and all the settlements within reach of Fort Pitt were up- 
rooted. 




There is no occasion to repeat a story so graphically told ni its 
striking details by Parkman, and it answers our pres- xhe English 
ent purpose merely to show how the English were ''^*™^ ' 
awakened to a sense of their insecurity. By the last of May,, 
rumors had reached Fort Pitt of the fall of the stockade at 
Sandusky, and within a month reports came in of devastations 




Note. The cut on the opposite page attaches to this one at the left hand edge. 



438 THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

all along the Pennsylvania borders. Early in June, Croghan, 
then at Carlisle, reported that the Delawares, who had been 
waiting develoi^nients, had gone over to the enemy. 

It was Croghan's belief tliat the French were the real in- 
stigators of this outbreak, not so much with the hope of mak- 
ing it successful as with the expectation that the beaten savages 
would seek an asylum under the Bourbon flag beyond the Mis- 
sissijopi. They could thus sustain the trade they were trying 
to build up by wresting much of it from the English. In June, a 
pack of huddled settlers were crouching before an attack upon 
Fort Ligonier, and Fort Bedford was preparing for the worst. 
The lesser posts near Fort Cumberland were pouring their 
people into that refuge. 

Bouquet, now in Philadelphia, heard of the rising, but the 
stories were so contradictory that he was perplexed what to 
believe. Amherst thought it nothing but a rash attempt of the 
Senecas. By June 12, both Bouquet and the general had found 
that they nuist accept the worst. Croghan, at Fort Bedford, 
while communication was cut with Fort Pitt, believed this latter 
Forts post to be invested. The truth was that on the next 

taken. ^^^ after Croghan wrote, Le Boeuf had been aban- 

doned (June 18). Presqu' Isle and Venango were also taken, 
and their garrisons massacred. On June 23 and 24, a sharp 
attack had been made on Fort Pitt itself, but without success. 

During July, Bouquet was struggling to organize a relieving 
force, but he found the loss of Presqu' Isle had disarranged his 
plans, and the occupation of the passes by the enemy prevented 
his getting needful information of their movements. To harass 
him further, the Pennsylvania authorities, who had gathered a 
force for the borders, refused to put it under his control. 

Marching from Carlisle, Bouquet was attacked at Edge Hill, 
near Bushy Run, twenty-six miles from Fort Pitt, 
.and Bushy wlicrc he Suffered a loss of sixty men. He had gained 
some advantages, chiefly by the good behavior of the 
forty-second regiment. They had shown that regulars could 
meet the savage with his own tactics. At the day's close. Bou- 
quet had written to Amherst, not in the best of spirits, regret- 
ting that his train prevented his following u]) what advantages 
he had gained, and expecting the battle to be renewed in the 
morning. The day brought the savage host once more upon him. 




[Prom the 3Tap of Pennsylvania, chiefly from the Map of W. Seull, 1770 (London : Sayer and 
Bennett, 1775), showing the place of Bouquet's fight. Croghan calls Scull's map a deception, and 
says that Fort Pitt was put in it thirteen miles farther north than its actual situation, in order to 
place it on tlie same parallel with the bend in the Delaware at Easton, and so bring it within the five 
degrees west from that river which constitute the western extension of Pennsylvania under the 
charter.] 



440 THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

He now found it to consist of Dela wares, Shawnees, Wyandots, 
and Mingoes. He lured tliem into a disordered onset by a feigned 
retreat, and then turned and completely routed them. His loss 
for the two days was one himdred and fifteen, and on August 
11 he was at Fort Pitt, which had successfully stood a siege of 
five days. Here he wrote to Amherst that his two days' fight- 
ing at Edge Hill had given the savages the " most complete 
defeat they had ever received in the woods." It had indeed 
cleared the country of every foe between the settlements and 
Fort Pitt. Later, in September, Bouquet reported to Governor 
Hamilton that the Indians were stunned by their defeat, and 
later still, as the influence of his movement became more ap- 
parent, he was confident that with seven hundred men he could 
drive the enemy beyond the Mississippi. 

The campaign for the season was evidently over, but there 
was no hope that the next year would not reveal the necessity 
of visforous action. Johnson told Amherst that the French 
would no doubt continue to supply the Indians with ammimi- 
tion, by way of the Mississippi, and would in the mean while 
engross the western trade by the same channel. This induced 
the general to instruct the commander at Mobile to prevent, if 
possible, any such help from the side of the Gulf. During the 
autumn, there were small packs of Indians spreading dismay 
along the Virginia borders, but at the north Croghan reported 
that all was quiet, except among the Senecas. 

The result of the summer's hostilities was in a measure assur- 
The results ^^^o' There was no longer doubt that the strongest 
summer's f orcc whicli could bc raiscd would be necessary for the 
"''"^" next year's work ; but that an adequate force, directed 

by such ability as Bouquet had shown, could successfully en- 
counter the savages in the woods seemed to have been made 
certain by what that officer had already done. 

There was, indeed, a wide field to regain. Detroit and Fort 
Pitt had alone braved the attacks upon them. Green Bay and 
Sault Ste. Marie had been abandoned. The garrison at Mack- 
inac had been massacred. When, in August, the survivors of 
the most western stations reached Montreal, not a British flag 
was left flying west of Detroit. The forts at Sandusky, Miami, 
St. Joseph, Ouiatanon, Presqu' Isle, and Venango had all been 
captured by the conspirators. 



BRADSTREET'S MOVEMENTS. 441 

The news of the proclamation of October 7 was not received 
till it had become necessary to suppress rather than ^j^g prodg, 
pacify the Indians, and it was likely to have little ef- octobw 7, 
feet, except upon the whites. In November, Amherst ^'''^• 
had sailed from New York for England, and the command in 
America now devolved on Thomas Gasre. He had re- 

HT T TT- 1 Gage com- 

cently been in authority at Montreal. His plans were mandei-m- 
soon laid for pushing forces into the Mississippi re- 
gion, using both Fort Pitt and Mobile as his bases. But he 
soon found his hands full of other duties. 

Late in January, 1764, he wrote to Bouquet to com^e to New 
York and determine upon plans for the simimer's cam- campaign 
paign. By April, the plans were well in hand. Gage °^ ^'^^' 
had put Bouquet in charge of all forces in Philadelphia and 
south of it, and had urged the governors of Virginia and Mary- 
land to put their local militia under his direction. « 

To prepare the way for a northern advance, Johnson, on 
April 3, brought the Senecas to a peace, by which the t^^ ^^^^^■^^^ 
crown secured a large tract of land on the Niagara fiuaer"^""""^® 
River. This opened a route toward Sandusky by J^'-^'i^t'eet- 
the southern shore of Lake Erie, and this part of the western 
advance was intrusted to the command of Colonel Bradstreet. 
He took along with him a force sufficient to give the Indians 
the effective chastisement which was expected of him. Brad- 
street had enlisted a contingent of French Canadians in the 
hope to convince the Indians of the hopelessness of a French 
defection. He lingered at Niagara in order to protect John- 
son, who was still negotiating with the neighboring tribes, and 
in August pushed on to Erie. 

At Presqu' Isle, on August 12, evidently iti the expectation 
of reaping the glory of closing the war, he agreed to Bradstreet'a 
a peace with an irresponsible party of Shawnees and *'®'^*^' 
Delawares. These scheming savages had planned to quiet 
Bradstreet by some sort of treaty, while their confederates far- 
ther south were to gain time for renewed excesses along the bor- 
der. By the pliant terms of the treaty, the Indians ceded the 
existing posts, and granted sites for any others which the Eng- 
lish might find it desirable to build. The whites were to have 
adjacent tillage lands, extending as far as a cannon-shot could 
reach. The savages gave hostages, and promised to deliver all 



442 THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

murderers of the English at Fort Pitt, and within twenty-five 
daj's to surrender at Sandusky all prisoners then in their hands. 
On Bradstreet's pushing on to Sandusky, there were no signs 
of the expected prisoners. The Indians, pursuing their beguil- 
ing policy, promised more definite agreements at Detroit. Ar- 
rived here, the little army relieved the weary garrison, and 
sent forward detachments to take possession of Mackinac, the 
Bradstreet Sault, and Grccu Bay. On September 10, Bradstreet 
at Detroit, arranged a new conference ; but Pontiac was sulking 
at the Maumee rapids, and would not come to it. Those who 
came made a feeble outward show of submission, which satisfied 
Bradstreet, and then he started east. 

On August 23, Grant, at Fort Pitt, had heard of the Erie 
treaty, and dispatched messengers at once to Gaa'e 

Gage disap- i t> -kt • 

proves the and to Bououct. Neither of these officers approved 

treaty. . ^ ., ^ ^ 

it, and each was confide^it that Bradstreet hard been 
too precipitate in coming to even a promise of peace till 
the Indians bad felt the blow which it was the purpose of Gage 
to give them. It was September 2 when Gage received the 
news, and he immediately sent orders to Bradstreet to quit 
parleying with the Delawares, for they were still ravaging the 
frontiers. Meanwhile, Bouquet, who had also heard of the 
treaty, hoped the tidings would not be confirmed, and was 
pushing on into the wilderness in disregard of it, but quite 
ready to find occasion to punish the tribes for any breach of its 
provisions on their part. He thought the fact that the Senecas 
had submitted was more likely to awe the Delawares than this 
trumped-up treaty was to mollif}^ them. 

Bouquet was not a man of dallying compunctions. He had 
Bouquet and Urged thc Peuusylvanians to employ dogs to track the 
Ins advance, g^vagcs, if the provincc woidd not help him with men. 
He had given out that with three or four hundred good woods- 
men, he could burn every Indian village in the Ohio country. 
No matter what spirit he showed, the neighboring governments 
were slow in coming to his aid. He had found himself held 
back by this apathy, with the mountains still before him, when 
he supposed Bradstreet was piinishing the Wyandots and Dela- 
wares in the region of Sandusky. 

It was not till the 1st of October that Bouquet crossed the 



BOUQUET. 



443 



Ohio, with a definite purpose of forcing a peace of his own im- 
posing which should relieve the regions east and south of the 
Ohio of the tribes, and preserve the navigation of the Ohio 
itself. He had advanced into the Muskingum valley, when, on 




ii-iisfifTiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiimm'ii'niw^ 




HENRY BOUQUET. 

the 17th of November, the Indians^ hovering about thought it 
wise to sue for peace. Bouquet would make no terms until 
every prisoner among them was surrendered. It took nearly a 
month to gather in these unfortunates. One among the forest 
exiles had given birth the previous sjiring to offspring supposed 
to be the first white child born in what is now the State of Ohio. 



444 THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

Having imposed his terms, Bouquet broke up his camp on the 

18th, and ten days later was at Fort Pitt. Not long 

view of the afterwards, Sir William Johnson congratulated him 

campaign. ^^^ ^^.^ success. " Nothing but penetrating into their 

country could have done it," said the Indian agent. 

There was some disposition on the part of the Shawnees, 
backed by French influence and strengthened by French sup- 
plies, to hold out ; but the pressure of the Iroquois finally 
brought them to terms. During December, Bouquet sent off 
messengers from Fort Loudon to inform the governors of the 
nearer provinces of the peace. Gage promptly approved the 
treaty, and advised Bouquet to do what he could to appease 
Pontiac. There was not a force available to make a successful 
march to the Illinois, and Gage had been for some time suspi- 
cious of St. Ange's influence in that region. He accordingly 
directed Bouquet to get a Shawnee escort for a messenger to 
the Illinois, in anticipation of detaching a sufficient force later, 
to occupy the posts still in the hands of the French. The out- 
come of this intention will appear in the final chapter. 

The results of Bouquet's treaty were for the next ten years 
far from satisfactory, but it does not concern us here 
Bouquet's to cutcr upou the details of the irrej)ressible irritation 
of both red man and white. It led to the treaty at 
Fort Stanwix, and the practical annulment of the king's procla- 
mation, before the strife of the colonies with the mother coun- 
try broke up all restraints. One result of the Bouquet treaty 
was to draw the savages still more from the occupancy of the 
regions south of the Ohio, and facilitate the settling a few years 
later of what are now the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
Very soon after Bouquet's conference, the last of the Shawnees 
who lingered in that country crossed the Ohio. Another result 
was the sending of Croghan to England, at the instance of Sir 
William Johnson, to advise with the government. Croghan 
recommended that a line be drawn from the head of the Dela- 
ware to the mouth of the Ohio, so as to reserve for an Indian 
hunting-ground all to the north and west, while a fair purchase 
was made of all territory between such a line and the settle- 
ments. The recommendation resulted in a plan devised at Fort 
Stanwix four years later. By that time, Pontiac and the west- 



THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT. 445 

ern chiefs had presented themselves at Oswego, where Johnson 
had conch^ded a treaty with them. 

This harmonized interests pretty well at the north ; but the 
troubles in Virginia kept on, and were only turned to new chan- 
nels by the outbreak of the Revolution. The exhaustion of the 
tidewater soils, incident upon the culture of tobacco, had always 
incited a movement westward to find new ground, and this played 
not an unimportant part in the earlier advance to and rpj^g western 
beyond the mountains at the south, compared with the "orth"and 
movement at the north. This southern exodus was *°"*^' 
painfully restrained at times by the barbarous inroads along the 
frontiers, and we have the testimony of Maury, the Huguenot, 
that this unsettled condition of life was starting emi- Virginians 
gration from Virginia into the more southern colonies, "^"^^ *°"*^''' 
where a quieter existence seemed to be assured by the inter- 
posed barrier formed by the Cherokees and Catawbas. Maury 
tells us that three hundred persons passed in one week by Bed- 
ford Court House into Carolina, and in October, 1764, he says 
that five thousand crossed by the Goochland Court House on 
the same errand. 

But the movement was by no means confined to a southerly 
direction. The trader had long since become familiar with the 
mountain passes, and the pioneer was sure to succeed to the 
trader's routes. The Moravians were opening the way. 
Already, in 1761, the missionary. Post, had penetrated ansinthe 
to an upper branch of the Muskingiim, and built him 
a cabin there on the north side of the Tuscarawas Creek, — 
in what is now Stark County. It was probably the first white 
man's house in the wilds of Ohio. 

The British Parliament soon after, in 1763, passed a law for 
the naturalization of Protestant foreigners who had served in 
the royal army in America, and had bought land and ^^g^g ^^j^. 
settled. This gave a new strength to the alien popula- '^^i^^d. 
tion, and it proved impossible to restrain them within the limits 
imposed by the proclamation of 1763. The routes 
which had been opened over the mountains by Forbes yondthe 
and Braddock were dotted with the moving wagons. 
It has been estimated that from 1765 to 1768 some thirty thou- 
sand whites settled beyond the mountains. 



446 THE EFFECT UPON THE INDIANS. 

Tills had not been done without spasmodic efforts on the part 
of the king's officers to stop it. Repeated instructions were 
sent to the colonial governors to interpose restraints. Threats 
had been made to leave all adventurous and law-breaking set- 
tlers to the mercy of the Indians, if they persisted in entering 
the crown lands. Nothing of threat or prohibition had much 
effect. Soldiers were sent to eject such settlers on Red Stone 
Creek and the Cheat River, but the dispossessed squatters soon 
returned to their old haunts in larger numbers, recruited among 
their friends. Even Washington sent out his agents and sur- 
veyors through the Ohio region, who picked out desirable tracts, 
and blazed their bounds. It was his intention to patent them, 
as soon as the restrictions of the proclamation became, as every 
one foresaw they must become, a fruitless provision. 

The story of this occupation, and the movements in which 
Franklin took a leading part to bring these Ohio regions within 
the range of civilized prosperity, with a promise finally realized 
by a free people, belongs rather to another volume than the pres- 
ent. It only remains now to show how the western posts came 
finally into the victor's hands. 



CHAPTEK XXIII. 

OCCUPATION COMPLETED. 

1764, 1765. 

While New Orleans and Louisiana were still lingering de- 
ceitfully under tlie flag of France, the doom of the The Jesuits 
Jesuits had been decreed in Paris. This religious •^°'""'^'^- 
order had with a remarkable prescience marked out both in the 
upper and the lower basins of the Mississippi what those 
regions could do for mankind. They had introduced the sugar 
cane at the south and planted wheat in the lUinpis country. 
The Superior Council of the province had already much re- 
stricted their powers, when a general decree in Paris put an end 
to their work everywhere in the French dominions. It meant 
that the marvelous power of the Jesuit in regulating intercourse 
with the savage along the Great River must come, for the 
present at least, to an end. The settlements at Kaskaskia and 
in the upper country had been what the Jesuits had made 
them. 

The treaty of 1763 had drawn a sharp and natural line of 
demarcation between the English and the French, xhe treaty 
along the channel of the Mississippi. This meant a the^sea-t*.*^ 
distinct abandonment upon the part of the British sea claim. 
government of the old sea-to-sea claim of the early English 
charters. The idea of such abandonment was not a grateful 
one to many of the English patentees. They held that by the 
treaty the claim suffered only a suspension, and not a dissolu- 
tion. A variety of pamphlets was sprung upon the public to 
enforce this view. They made the most they could of what 
they alleged was the avoidance by England in the treaty to 
guarantee to France the possession of the trans-Mississippi 
country. To strengthen the territorial pretension of these 




Note. A part of Jefferys' map, 1768, showing the vicinity of New Orleans and the Gulf 
coast. The section on the opposite page attaches to this part on the left hand. 




[From The Course of the 3fississippi, by Lieutenant Ross, improved from the Surveys of the 
French, Loudon, 1775. It shows the point where Loftus was driven back.] 










t^ tj:u,=. 






4 " &•••*» L, 1, 



-f^fi- 



^]IL ^ ^ > ? »' 










' ^-v .it^ 







[From Callot's ^«as, PI. 34.] 



452 OCCUPATION COMPLETED. 

pamphleteers, it was necessary to depend upon English explora- 
tions as well as upon the right to issue the sea-to-sea charters. 
Story after story of early wanderings of the English along and 
beyond the Mississippi were rehabilitated in the public mind. 
Such were the unsupported narrative of the adventures of 
Colonel Wood in 1654 and 1664. The discredited journals 
and maps given by the younger Coxe, which carried in 1676 
the roving explorers sent out by the father up the Mississippi 
to the Missouri, were once more cited. The f abidous party of 
New Englanders who went overland to New Mexico in 1678, 
and whose guides were represented as afterward leading La 
Salle down the Great River, was again created as a veritable 
record. 

But the ambitious and seductive pretense availed nothing, 
and the bounds of Carolana, like those of Virginia and the other 
colonies having a western extension, were clipped at the Mis- 
sissippi forever. England thus not only abrogated her sea-to- 
sea claims, but the short-sightedness which made crown lands 
of her acquisitions beyond the Alleghanies laid open the way 
for the new Republic in 1782, by virtue of having wrested 
them from the crovra itself, to include them in its nascent 
realm. 

It was in 1764 that efforts were first made by the English to 
Caroiiniaus ^^& posscssiou of tlic left bank of the Mississippi. 
Rouge?" 1^1 ^^1^^ year, some wanderers from Roanoke in North 
^^^- Carolina came to Baton Rouge and entered upon a 

contraband trade with the French. In the previous February, 
The English Major Arthur Loftus, with about four hundred Eng- 
outhe^*"''^ lish troops, which had come from Mobile, already 
Mississippi, taken possession of, entered the Mississippi, with the 
purpose of proceeding to the upper waters and receiving the 
surrender of Fort Chartres and the other French posts. On 
February 27, the detachment of Loftus left New Orleans in the 
ascent. Some weeks later, on May 20, the flotilla, which was 
making a laborious progress, was suddenly attacked at Davion's 
Bluff (Fort Adams). The English, surprised, were driven 
back with a small loss. There is some reason to believe that 
this attack, made by the Indians, had been encouraged by 
French residents, though the French officers in authority are 







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454 OCCUPATION COMPLETED. 

probably to be exonerated. Loftus, however, and his officers 

remained convinced of such connivance. The spot where it 

occurred was two hundred and forty miles from New Orleans, 

as is indicated in a map of the Mississippi made in a later ascent 

by Lieutenant Ross of the thirty-fourth regiment, in which is 

marked the place " where the Twenty-second regiment was 

driven back by the Tonicas." Andrew Ellicott also marks it in 

a map which accompanies his more recent journal. 

A few weeks later, Neyon de Villiers, who commanded at 

Fort Chartres, summoning St. Ange from the Wa- 
st. Ange . ° '^ 

at Fort bash, left that officer in charge, and started down the 

Chartres. ,-.....,. ^ ° . , ,. , 

Mississippi with SIX officers, over sixty soldiers, and 
about eighty French residents in his train. He reached New 
Orleans on July 2, finding the French still in control, and with 
no suspicion of the sudden shock which they were to experience 
three months later (October, 1764), when the provisions of the 
secret Fontainebleau treaty became known. A letter from the 
The secret French king, dated in April, had revealed their des- 
lu^igedby ^^^1- D'Abadie, now in the governorship in suc- 
octobw'^' cession to Kerlerec, had been in office since June, 
17G4. 1763. He was a man who soon commanded respect 

by his uprightness, but the execrable condition of the finances 
of the province had proved too much for even an able adminis- 
trator, and he was beginning to lose ground in health and spirits 
under the pressure of his duties. Champigny tells us how dis- 
heartening and even appalling an effect the news which D' Aba- 
die was compelled to disclose had made upon a community who 
could but feel that they had been betrayed in exigencies which 
little concerned them. D'Abadie suffered mortification and a 
revulsion of feelings with the rest, and did not live to turn the 
province over to the Spanish governor, whom he was instructed 

to receive. He died, weighed down and disconsolate, 
(jie8;Vuoa ou February 4, 1765; and it was not till March, 

1766, that Ulloa, the Spanish representative, arrived 
in the river, to treat with Aubry, the successor of D'Abadie, 
for the surrender of the province. This change of destiny, 
which fell with so distressing a blow upon D'Abadie and the 
faithful Louisianians, came also like a blight to a people who 
had shown in many ways their devotion to the Bourbon crown 
of France. 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH TRADERS. 455 

Early in 1765, some of the restless and wandering Acadians, 
now for ten years unwelcome and unwilling denizens Acadians in 
along the Atlantic seaboard, had begun to arrive in i^o"'s'ai»a. 
New Orleans. These and later comers in part took up their 
home lots along the reaches of the river still known as the 
" Cajean Coast." They had left the English colonies with the 
hope of living once more under the French flag; but found 
they had come to a distracted land. Others, already planning 
for the change, were stopped by hearing of the new conditions, 
and, turning to seek other asylums, found their way to San 
Domingo, Cayenne, and even to France and Corsica. Some of 
these same exiles, who had started west to descend the Missis- 
sippi, met the disastrous news at Detroit, and tarried there, 
where they are still represented by descendants. 

Since the promulgation of the proclamation of 1763, there 
had been an increasing disaffection among the Eng- English 
lish traders in finding themselves debarred from traffic the^'new^'^ 
beyond the Mississipj)i. In what were now the crown <'''"'i»*'o»s. 
lands, wars and removals had sensibly thinned the native popu- 
lation, and it had become evident that the future of the Indian 
trade must be west of the Great River. The tidings of the 
Spanish accession to this distant territory, in that it opened 
new channels for English enterprise, and was not likely to cul- 
tivate the same degree of rivalry as with the French, came with 
new encouragements to the trader. We find this expressed in 
a letter of February 26, 1765, from Governor Dobbs of North 
Carolina, one of the last he wrote, for he expired about a month 
later (March 28). The English can now extend, he says in 
effect, their trade beyond the Mississippi, and reach the Span- 
iards of new and old Mexico, " by pushing on our discoverers 
and traders by the Missouri and the rivers west of the Missis- 
sippi," and so secure " an open trade to the westward Ameri- 
can ocean." The gain, however, was not to be all on prench 
one side, for both Spanish and French traders were orthrMu* 
pushing east of the Mississippi, and were carrying off «'^«'pp'- 
furs from points within sixty miles of Detroit, and Kaskaskia 
was filled with goods from New Orleans. 

It was evident that the English, if they would retain the 
Indian trade, could not long delay possession of this Illinois 



456 OCCUPATION COMPLETED. 

and Wabasli country. The approach was now to be made over- 
land from the east. We have seen that Gage, at the 
Bent over- end of Bouquct's campaign, had instructed that offi- 
cer to send messengers to the Illinois. Early in 1765, 
Lieutenant Eraser had been dispatched from Eort Pitt to pre- 
pare the tribes and the Erench for the English force wliich was 
to follow. He reached the Illinois villages, where the 
Fraserseut Ercuch tradcrs conspired to take his life. He owed 
his deliverance to Pontiac, now disposed to make his 
peace with the inevitable masters. Eleeing fuially in disguise, 
Eraser left the field open by descending in Jmie to New 
Orleans. 

The mission was soon to be pursued by a different man, for 
the lot had fallen to George Croghan, the best choice 
ghan seut possiblc, and favored by Bouquet, though he was not in 
all ways above suspicion when the Indian trade was in 
question. Under instructions from Sir William Johnson, Cro- 
ghan left Eort Pitt about the middle of May, 1765. He had 
two boats, with several white companions. A small party of 
Delawares, Shawnees, and Iroquois soon joined him. He went 
prepared to note the country and plot the windings of the Ohio. 
The early geogTaphers of this valley owed something to him, 
though his scale of distances proved subject to considerable 
errors. Eortunately, his journal has been preserved, and we 
can see in his narrative how the river banks were at this time 
alive with the buffalo and other wild game. 

Croghan had sent out messengers to summon the Erench 
traders to meet him at the mouth of the Scioto and take the 
oath of allegiance, and the Indians helped to bring them in. 
By the 6th of June, he was at the mouth of the Wabash, where 
he found the Indians less tractable than the Shawnees had 
been higher up the valley. He now dispatched messengers to 
St. Ange to warn him of his approach ; but his advance was 
brought suddenly to a stop. On the morning of June 
poos attack. 8, a body of Kickapoos and Mascoutins, on the pre- 
tense that his Indians were Cherokees, attacked and 
captured him. The savages carried their prisoner to Vincennes, 
, and arrived there on the 15th. Croglian reports this town to have 
at the time some eighty French habitations (occupied, to his eyes, 



FORT CHARTRES OCCUPIED. 457 

by an idle and lazy population), witli Indian liuts scattered among 
them. Croglian himself was treated with respect, and was sent 
up the river to Ouiatanon, where he was released. Here he 
received a letter from St. Ange, promising a courteous 

TT i T-» i • 1 , Treaty at 

reception. He now met x^ontiac, and at a concourse the Maumee 
of the neighboring tribes held at Ouiatanon, Croghan 
speedily brought them to terms. The Twightwees gave up 
their English prisoners, and hoisted the English flag upon the 
banks of the St. Joseph, a branch of the Maumee. That the 
Indians of the upper Ohio valley had already succumbed seemed 
to help Croghan with the more distant tribes, and Pontiac's good 
offices became important. Croghan, in the report 
which he made to Johnson, spoke of the Ottawa chief 
as " a shrewd, sensible Indian of few words, who commands 
more respect among his own nation than any Indian I ever 
saw." Croghan adds that Pontiac seemed to understand the 
late contest as a " beaver war," stirred up for profit. The chief 
spoke for peace, but he demanded powder and lead for his peo- 
ple, and begged that they might be dismissed with a plenty of 
rum ! It was further the opinion of Croghan that the French 
hold upon the Indians was still strong, and that the English 
must not expect a speedy revulsion in their favor. 

Croghan made concessions enough to accomplish his purpose, 
and early in August started down the Maumee in the croghan in 
confident expectation that the march of the English, ^''^™''- 
later on, to Fort Chartres would be permitted without restraint. 
On the 17th, he was at Detroit, and repeated his success with 
the new savage hordes which greeted him there, and then, secur- 
ing Pontiac's promise to seal the peace with Johnson at Oswego, 
he started for Niagara. • 

Croghan's report being made, Captain Thomas Stirling started 
from Fort Pitt with a hundred and twenty Highland- 

, . . , , . IT. Stirling 

ers, and, meeting with no obstructions, the expedition marches 
reached Fort Chartres, and on October 10, in the pres- 
ence of Stirling and his Black Watch regiment, the French flag 
was hauled down, and St. Ange gave up his authority. 
There was not now a Bourbon symbol flying anywhere chartres 
throughout the English conquest. The threats of October io, 
.resistance which early in the spring the adjacent 



» — I — 




''^^^^$fm 



~, 4i^ I ,JS ^ .& ' . 





FORT CHARTRES AND KASKASKIA. 



[From 
Loudon, 



Lieutenant Ross's Course of the Mississippi, improved from Surveys of ike French, 
1775.] 



462 OCCUPATION COMPLETED. 

tribes were making had been succeeded by the same quiet 
submission wliicli Croghan bad compelled on the Maumee. 

Gage had prepared a proclamation, which was now issued by 
the English commander. It assured the French of 
lishproc- security in their religion, and gaye them opportimity 
to retire with their property to New Orleans, or else- 
where if they desired. If they remained, they were promised 
the same protection that was accorded to British subjects. 
There were some thousand French whom these provisions af- 
fected. A considerable proportion followed St. Ange across 
the Mississippi, when he moved his headquarters to St. Louis. 
A few British families succeeded to some of the farms that had 
been thus abandoned. Two years later, it was estimated that 
half the French settlers had crossed the river, and that 
depart or there wcrc something over two thousand left on Eng- 
lish soil, of whom three fourths were along the Mis- 
sissippi, and a quarter remained on the Wabash. It is supposed 
that at this time hardly half as many French occupied these new 
settlements, and they were mostly within the limits of the mod- 
ern State of Missouri. 

Stirling having thus secured quiet possession, his force was 
after a while, in December, 1765, strengthened by the arrival of 
British *^^® tliirty-fourtli regiment under Major Farmer, com- 

ceud'the* ^^S ^P ^^^^ rivcr f rom the Gulf. There had been some 
Mississippi, apprehension that these troops might suffer like those 
under Loftus ; but precautions had been taken. Stuart, the In- 
dian agent in the south, had propitiated the Chickasaws by gifts, 
and parties of that tribe not only scoured the coimtry along the 
river on the flanks of the flotilla which carried the troops, but 
a body of their hunters kept the little army supplied with game. 
There had been some fear that perhaps the minor tribes along 
the river would yield to French intrigue, and harass the British, 
but the Choctaws restrained them. The Arkansas on the west- 
ern bank proved also friendly, and Stuart indulged a hope that 
their peaceable disposition might yet conduce to their crossing 
the river. With them, the Natchez, and the Alibamons, the 
English might command some six hundred warriors to protect 
the free navigation of the Mississippi. While these precaiitions 
had made the movements of the troops safe in the lower valley, 



464 OCCUPATION COMPLETED. 

a body of Cherokees had been sent to the Illinois country, where 
their motions proved a distraction to the French and Indians. 
With these plans for protecting its flanks, the English regiment 
at last, after a toilsome passage of five months and more, entered 
quietly within the defenses at Fort Chartres, and the English 
possession of the country was completed. 



INDEX. 



Abercrombie, sent to America, 385; 
to attack Ticonderoga, 386 ; his de- 
feat, 386. 

Acadia, French claims to, 160, 161 ; 
charter, 317 ; acquired by England, 
87, 420. 

Acadians, 274 ; in Louisiana, 274 ; per- 
fidy of, 353 ; New England to occupy 
their attention, 356 ; a party of them 
captured, 377 ; in Louisiana, 455 ; in 
Detroit, 455. 

Acansia River, 75. See Ascantia ; Iber- 
ville River. 

Adair, James, American Indians, 248, 
262 ; his map, 262, 263 ; among the 
Chickasaws, 266. 

Adams, John, on the French, 335 ; on 
Loudoun, 384. 

Adams, Samuel, 219. 

Adayes, 94, 95, 154, 155. 

Aguilar, 216. 

Ais-la-Chapelle, treaty, 224, 334. 

Akansea River, 61. See Arkansas. 

Akanseas, 61. 

Alabama River, 21, 41 ; post on, 86, 
421. 

Albany, traders of, 67, 68, 74, 88, 125, 
126, 164, 165, 346; treaty at, 165; 
clandestine trade with Quebec, 250 ; 
conference (1751), 287 ; congress 
(1754), 343 ; plan of congress rejected, 
350. 

Albemarle, Lord, ambassador to Paris, 
335. 

Alibamons, 21,64, 65, 153, 268 ; friendly 
to the English, 462. 

Allard, 74. 

Alleghany River, the route to the Ohio 
country, 14, 17, 30, 279 ; mapped, 
345 ; abandoned by the French, 398. 

AUouez, 20. 

AJtamaha River, 135, 170. 

American Antiquarian Society, 254. 

Amherst, General Jeffery, attacks Cape 
Breton, 386 ; leads the new campaign, 
395 ; at Lake George, 395 ; at Crown 
Point, 396 ; sends a messenger to 
Wolfe, 396 ; expected at Quebec, 399 ; 
his advance on Montreal, 403 ; his 
force, 404 ; announces peace, 419 ; 



and the Pontiac war, 438 ; returns to 
England, 441. 

Andastes, 413. 

Andrews, New Map (1783), 247. 

Anian, Straits of, 77, 214, 426. 

Anne, Queen, succeeds, 68. 

Appalachians, as a barrier, 12, 122, 131 ; 
gaps, 17 ; maps, 19 ; as a boundary, 
76, 143 ; mines, 134 ; English lack of 
knowledge' of, 161 ; Byrd's view of, 
168. 

Appalachicola River, 21, 143. 

Arkansas Indians, peaceful, 462. 

Arkansas River, 90, 98, 105, 156 ; Law's 
grant, 104 ; post at its mouth, 156. 
See Akansea River. 

Armstrong, Colonel John, attacks Kit- 
tanning, 377. 

Armstrong, Major, pioneer for Forbes, 
388. 

Artaguette, Diron d', 65, 85 ; leaves 
Louisiana, 83 ; beaten by the Chicka- 
saws, 191. 

Ascantia River, 40, 42, 49. See Acansia. 

Ascension Bay, 448. 

Ashby's Gap, 233. 

Aspinwall papers, 299. 

Assiniboine Indians, 30 ; (Assiniboils), 
97 ; (Asinipoils), 147 ; mission, 194 ; 
various forms of the name, 194 ; and 
the western way, 199, 203 ; the tribe, 
205 ; their treachery, 206 ; their coun- 
try, 215. 

Assiniboine River, mapped, 195, 205. 

Atchison, 144. 

Atlas Moderne, 216. 

Atlas Noicveau, 216. 

Aubry leaves Duquesne, 392 ; defeated 
by Johnson, 398. 

Aubry, governor of Louisiana, 454. 

Aughwick, 342, 345. 

Augusta (Va.), 178. 

AzUia, 135. 

Balize, fort at, 154. 

Bancroft, H. H., and Moncacht-Ap^, 

214. 
Baton Rouge, 7, 40 ; English at (1764), 

452. 
Bayagoulas, 37, 38, 40, 44, 49, 448. 



4G6 



INDEX. 



Baye de St. Bernard, 92 ; abandoned, 

94. 
Baye de St. Esprit, 92. 
Baye de St. Louis, 92, 142, .321. 
Beauharnois, puts vessels on Lake Onta- 
rio, 105 ; and western discovery, 19o, 
198; and V^rendrye, 2U1 ; preparing 
for war, 22U ; Indian conference, 2-50. 
Beaujeu at Duquesne, 3(il ; killed, 302. 
Beaurain, Chevalier de, 52. 
Beaver, extermination of, 329. 
Beaver Creek, 299, 301, 430. 
Beaver's Town, 201. 
Bedford, Duke of, 420. 
Begon, Memoire, 30 ; the intendant of 

Canada, 112, 10.5. 
Belcher, Governor of Massachusetts, 

174. 
Bellestre at Detroit, 400. 
Bellin, and the western water-way, 190 ; 
liis hydrographical theories, 204, 214 ; 
his maps, 240, 249 ; his map used by 
Washington, 300 ; and the French 
claim, ooO. 
Bellomont, Governor, 14, 00, 08. 
Bering's iStraits, 212. 
Berkeley, Bishop, 102. 
Berthelot in the DHnois, 200, 262. 
Bethlehem (Pa.) 2.58. 
Beverly, Robert, 129. 
Beverly, William, 179. 
Beverly manor, 179, 229, 237. 
Bienviile, his parentage, 2 ; on the Mis- 
sissippi, 38 ; his character, 42 ; com- 
missioned, 48 ; at Fort Laboulaye, 
52 ; portrait, 57 ; at Biloxi, 02 ; at- 
tacks the Alibamons, 04 ; his enemies, 
65 ; quarrels with Cadillac, 101 ; at- 
tacks the Natchez, 101 ; builds Fort 
Rosalie, 101 ; governor of the Com- 
pany of the West, 102 ; receives his 
commission, 104 ; attacks Pensacola, 
100 ; New Orleans his capital, 154 ; 
protests against Spanish encroach- 
ments, 154 ; attacks the Natchez, 157 ; 
returns to France, 157 ; reinstated in 
Louisiana, 190 ; campaigns against 
the Chiekasaws, 191 ; sends a party 
up the Arkansas, 200 ; retires, 259. 
Big Horn range, 202. 
Big Miami River, 30. See Miami. 
Big Roebuck, 211. 
Big Sandv River, 230, 
Big Tree," Oneida chief, 284. 
Bigot and St. Pierre, 204 ; intendant at 

Quebec, 228 ; urging war, 294. 
Biloxi, 62 ; Indians, 37 ; settlement, 42 ; 
life at, 43 ; position, 59, 75, 423, 448. 
Bisque, F. del, 10. 
Black Watch Regiment, 457. 
Blair, governor of Virginia, 229. 
Blue Ridge, 129. 
Bob^, and the Lahontan story, 80 ; and 



Delisle, 111; on a western way, 114; 
Memoire, 100 ; views as to the French 
claims, 101. 

Boisbriant, P. D., 62 ; commands in Illi- 
nois, 120 ; fears the English advance, 
149 ; at New Orleans, 157. 

Bollan, on the English claim, 331. 

Bolt, Captain, in the Ohio country, 421. 

Bonnecamps, his map, 2.5.5-257. 

Boone, Daniel, crosses the mountains, 
410. 

Borden, Benjamin, 179. 

Borden grant, 22'J. 

Boscawen, Admiral, 368. 

Boston, threatened by the French, 68, 
222 ; its condition, 218. 

Boston News-Letter, 09. 

Bougainville at Quebec, 378; returns 
from France, 395 ; at Quebec, 399 ; on 
Lake Champlain, 404. 

Bourbonia, 111. 

Bourgmont (Bourmont, Boismont, Bour- 
nion), 112; on the Missouri, 141; 
among the Padoucas, 144. 

Bourlamaque at Quebec, 378 ; retires 
before Amherst, 390 ; at Montreal, 
404. 

Bouquet, Colonel, in the south, 275 ; 
disagrees with Washington as to the 
route to be followed against Du- 
quesne, 388 ; commanding on the 
Ohio, 397 ; at Fort Pitt, 409 ; warned 
of war with Spain, 413 ; in the Pontiac 
war, 438 ; Edge Hill battle, 438 ; in 
command at Philadelphia, 441 ; his 
character, 442 ; portrait, 443 ; makes 
peace, 443. 

Bowen, Emanuel, maps, 22 ; map of 
the southern Indian country, 383 ; on 
the source of the Mississippi, 424, 426. 

Bowen and Gibson's North America, 
105, 140, 152, 190, 327-329; on the 
English claim, 331. 

Braddock, General Edward, his in- 
structions, 335 ; sent to America, 354 ; 
plan of his campaign, 355 ; meets 
the colonial governors, .355, 350 ; his 
treatment of the Indians, 355 ; his 
character, 350 ; Washington joins him, 
357; his route, 311, .■>57, 439; map 
of his march, 358, 359 ; his force, 
3()0 ; receives express from Brad- 
street, 3(51 ; his defeat, 3()2 ; his losses, 
3()3 ; map of the battle, 439. 

Bradstreet, Lieutenant-Colonel, defeats 
the French, 379; takes Fort Fronte- 
nac, 38(') ; colonel in command of an 
expedition, 441 ; makes a treaty at 
Presqu' Isle, 441 ; rebuked for it, 
442. 
Brant, Joseph, 324. 

Brattleboro' (Vt.), 102. 

Broad River, 21. 



INDEX. 



467 



Broutin, Carte des Natchitoches, 91. 

Bryraner, Douglas, Reports, 201. 

Buache, maps the iSea of the West, 207, 
209,210; on the source of the Missis- 
sippi, 424. 

Buccaneers, 3.5. 

BufFaloes, 8, 1-5 ; in Ohio, 120, 148, 150, 
456 ; in Virginia, 128, 229 ; trade in 
their furs, 334. 

Buissonni^re, 192. 

Bull, governor of South Carolina, 411. 

Bullett's Town, 437. 

Burke, Edmund, on the proclamation 
(1763), 430. 

Burke, William, 418. 

Burnet, governor of New York, takes 
possession of Oswego, 126 ; strength- 
ens Oswego, 165. 

Burnet's Hills, 345. 

Bury, Viscount, 172. 

Bushy Run battle, 438 ; map of its 
site, 4;39. See Bouquet. 

Bussy, 416. 

Bute, Lord, minister, 417, 419. 

Byrd, William, of Westover, 271; 
History of the Dividing Line, 161, 168. 

Cabot, 421 ; his voyages as a basis for 
England's claims, 316. 

Cadadaquions, 93, 153, 156. 

Cadillac, Lamothe, his character, 72, 
85, 99 ; founds Detroit, 72 ; opposes 
the Compagnie des In des, 73 ; sent 
to Louisiana, 83 ; arrives, 85 ; anxi- 
eties, 94 ; seeks mines in Illinois, 99 ; 
recalled, lUl ; watching the Span- 
iards, 111. 

Cahokia, 5, 146. 

Cairo (111.), 70. 

Calf-pasture, 237. 

Calicnas destroyed, 14.3. 

California, Gulf of, 201. 

Callot, map of the Mississippi and Kas- 
kaskia rivers, 458, 459. 

Calli^res, Governor, 53, 57, 58, 66-68 ; 
dies, OS, 73. 

Calumet River, 24. 

Campbell, Captain, at Detroit, 407. 

Canada, policy of trade, 57, *i^ ; limits 
differently marked, 86 ; bounds on the 
north, 88 ; and Louisiana, both claim 
the Wabash, 149 ; population, 88, 122, 
164, 223, 394, 405, 421 ; Galissonnifere 
governor, 223 ; its militia, 294 ; as 
compared with the English colonies, 
324 ; preparing for the campaign 
(1755), 368 ; confident (1757-58), 385 ; 
despondent, 386 ; deserted by the In- 
dians, 394 ; surrendered, 405 ; Eng- 
lish claim for its extent, 415 ; Canada 
or Guadeloupe ? 417 ; under the treaty 
(17631,422. 

Canadian River 89. 



Canahogue, 301. 

Capuchins, 157. 

Carlisle (Pa.), 302. 

Carmelites, 157. 

Carolana, 46 ; named, 421. See Coxe. 

Carolina, charter, 3 ; character of the 
people, 18 ; traders' trails, 18, 44, .52, 
62 ; frontiers, 45 ; Sir Robert Heath's 
grant, 46 ; taxes Virginia traders, 
131 ; Indian slaves, 133 ; traders on 
the Wabash, 149 ; grant from the 
Cherokees, 168; Gee on, 169; its dan- 
ger from the French, 170, 184 ; traders 
among the Chickasaws, 190 ; traders, 
271 ; traders on the Ohio, 254, 262 ; 
paths to the Cherokee country, 270 ; 
gains land, 271 ; charter bounds, 319 ; 
threatened, 354 ; bounds extended, 
412 ; immigration from Virginia, 445. 

Cartagena, 218. 

Cartier, Jacques, 3, 13, 196, 318. 

Cartlidge, Edmund, 175. 

Catawbas, 20 ; and Iroquois, 185, 234, 
266, 287 ; position, 263 ; friends of 
the English, 266, 272 ; make peace 
with the Iroquois, 271 ; their country, 
328 ; sulky, 381. 

Catholic Historical Researches, 255. 

Catholics in Pennsylvania, 178. 

Caughnawaga Indians, 224, 340. 

Cavalier among the Ohio Indians, 176. 

Cayahogar River, 30, 244, 261, 305, 329, 

■-!?9 

Cayugas, 228. 

C^loron and the Chickasaw war, 192 ; 
starts on his expedition, 252 ; inscrip- 
tion on his plates, 253, 277 ; buries his 
plates, 254 ; warns English traders, 
254 ; his journal, 255 ; failure of the 
expedition, 25(i ; its purpose, 277 ; at 
Detroit, 285 ; on the Ohio, 332 ; killed, 
378. 

Cenis, 77, 90, 92, 93, 107, 142 ; map of 
their country, 155. 

Champigny, 284. 

Chaouanons, 16. See Shawnees. 

Charleston (S. C), 143. 

Charleville, Du, 58. 

Charlevoix, as an observer, 1.36 ; his jour- 
nal, 136 ; his Histoire de la Nouvelle 
France, 136 ; letter to the Count de 
Toulouse, 136 ; at Mackinac, 136 ; at 
Kaskaskia, 146 ; at Kahokia, 14(5 ; goes 
down the Mississippi, 150 ; at Natchez, 
1.50 ; at New Orleans, 150. 

Chartier's Creek, 293. 

Chat (Indians), 143. 

Chateaumorand, 36. 

Chautauqua (iSchatacoin), 375. 

Chautauqua Creek, 300. 

Chautauqua Lake, 30. 

Cheat River. 446. 

Chekagoua River, 24. See Chicago. 



468 



INDEX. 



Cherokee River, mapped, 328. 

Cherokees on the Ohio, 15 ; their char- 
acter and country, IS ; linguistic affin- 
ities, 20 ; first knowledge of them, 20 ; 
form a barrier for the English, 122 ; 
trails, 132, 108 ; their importance, 150 ; 
their lands and grants, 168 ; bulwark 
of Carolina, 183; treaty (1730), 183; 
Adair's account of them, 184 ; and the 
Iroquois, 185 ; position, 263, 270 ; 
friends of the EngUsh, 170, 265, 272j 
maps of their country, 272, 273, 275, 
281, 2!»5, 328, 383; send a force to 
help the English, 276 ; English facto- 
ries among, 281 ; route to the Missis- 
sippi, 327 ; sulky, 381 ; truce, 382 ; 
implacable, 411 ; war with the west- 
ern Indians, 434 ; on the upper Mis- 
sissippi, 462. 

Chicago portage, 24, 117, 329 ; danger- 
ous, 120. 

Chickasaw bluffs, 6. 

Chickasaw River, 21. 

Chickasaws, 20, 44, 47, 63, 64, 83, 133, 
142, 143 ; have English firearms, 54 ; 
their traders on the Missouri, 114 ; 
trails to, 132 ; English posts among, 
153 ; friends of the English, 167 ; 
their warring impulse, 187 ; Bien- 
ville's campaigns against, 190; their 
country, 190 ; against the French, 223 ; 
position, 262, 265, 269 ; disquiet, 204 ; 
site of their fort, 265 ; and the French, 
266 ; go to Charleston, 266 ; waver- 
ing, 274 ; map of their country, 383 ; 
gained by Stuart, 462. 

CMnese, 112 ; trade with, 112 ; in Amer- 
ica, 201. 

Chinooks, 6. 

Chippeways (Ojibways), 22, 32, 81, 
119, 184, 264, 308; and Dacotahs, 
204. 

Choctaws, 44, 63, 64, 83, 133, 142, 153 ; 
pillage the English, 100 ; and the 
Natchez war, 187 ; in the Chickasaw 
war, 190, 191 ; quiet, 268 ; wavering, 
274 ; map of their country, 383 ; pa- 
trol the Mississippi, 462. 

Choiseid would make peace, 419. 

Chouteau, 433. 

Christineaux, 112, 199. 

Clark's Fork, 32. 

Cleveland, 30, 165, 406. 

Clinch River, 19, 230, 277, 281, 292. 

Clinton, Governor, urging a colonial 
union, 221. 

Cluverius, 22. 

Coal mines, 244, 245. See Mines. 

Colapissas, 448. 

Colden, Cadwallader, map, 25 ; on New 
York, 163 ; on encouraging the Indian 
trade, 163 ; History of the Five Na- 
(ions,163, 220,223, 333. 



Colorado River, 32 ; its sources, 96. 

Columbia River, 32, 138, 211, 322. 

Comanches, 8. tS'ee Padoucas. 

Compagnie des Indes, 73. 

Company of the West, f02. 

Conestoga, treaty of, 163 ; fort, 241. 

Congaree River, 168, 271. 

Connecticut, her people in Pennsylvania, 
166 ; disputes the rights of Pennsyl- 
vania, 346 ; charters the Susquehanna 
Company, 346. See Pennsylvania. 

Contrecoeur attacks the fort at the forks 
of the Ohio, 311 ; his force, 311 ; at 
Duquesne, 357 ; his force in a later 
campaign, 360. 

Coosa River, 86. 

Cornbury, Lord, 68, 71. 

Cosme, l7. 

Cotton in Louisiana, 271. 

Covens and Mortier, maps, 216. 

Cowpasture River, 364. 

Coxe, Daniel, 167, 168 ; Carolana, 127, 
138 ; his map, 44, 45 ; his g^ant, 46 ; 
and the western quest, 217, 452. 

Creeks, 20, 47, 153, 168, 183, 186 ; posi- 
tion, 262, 267 ; and the French, 260 ; 
wavering, 274, 275 ; map of their 
country, 383 ; warring on the English, 
411. 

Cresap, Colonel Thomas, his career, 
251 ; in Maryland, 251 ; surveys a 
tract over the mountains, 251 ; Gist 
with, 282 ; his road over the moun- 
tains, 311 ; his settlement, 312 ; and 
the Ohio Company, 409. 

Cristineaux. >See Christineaux. 

Croghan, George, his character, 249 ; 
sending scouts to the Ohio, 252 ; his 
services, 280 ; in the Ohio country, 
282, 283 ; map of the sources of the 
Potomac, 283 ; on the Ohio, 289, 290 ; 
confronting the French at Logstown, 
290 ; urging defenses on the Ohio, 
303 ; on French encroachments, 330 ; 
on the Half-King's death, 341 ; on 
the French blandishments, 342 ; and 
the province of Pennsylvania, 380; 
made his deputy by Johnson, 380 ; 
dealing with Teedyuscung, .382 ; pro- 
pitiating the Ohio tribes, 387 ; goes 
west, 405 ; intercessor with the Indi- 
ans, 408; at Detroit, 412; fears an 
Indian war, 413 ; at Carlisle, 438 ; at 
Fort Bedford, 438 ; sent to England, 
444 ; sent west, 456. 

Cromwell, 12. 

Crown Point, 174. 

Crozat, Sieur Antoine, and his farming 
of trade in Louisiana, 85 ; tried to 
open trade with the Spaniards, 90 ; 
resigns his charter, 102. 
Culpepper, Lord, 11. 
Cumberland Gap, 230, 277. 



INDEX. 



469 



Cumberland River, 16, 19, 230, 272, 273, 

278. 
Cuming, Sir Alexander, 183. 
Currytuck Inlet, 278. 
Cutler, Nathaniel, Coasting Pilot, 35. 

D'Abadie, governor of Louisiana, 454; 
died, 454. 

D'Anville, Admiral, 222. 

Daeotabs, 52; tbeir coimtry, 204. See 
Sioux. 

Dan River, 229. 

Danckerts, 74. 

Danville, map of Louisiana, 6, 7, 48, 49, 
59 ; maps, 95 ; bis North America, 
117, 147, 266, 294, 295 ; on tbe source 
of tbe Mississippi, 206 ; represents the 
French claim, 335. 

Daugherty, 20. 

Daupbine Island, 59, 75, 108, 423, 449 ; 
attacked, 83. 

Davion, 43, 48, 56, 62. 

Davion's Bluff, 450, 452. 

Davis, A. M., on Moneacbt-Ap^, 214. 

De Fer, Nicolas, 76, 78 ; and tbe Labon- 
tan story, 80 ; La Biviere de Missis- 
sippi, 104, 130. 

De la Noiie, 115. 

De la Tour, 80. 

De Lancey, Governor, 222, 303, 308, 
368. 

De Soto. See Soto. 

De Witt, 74. 

Dee, Dr., 318. 

Deerfield attacked, 70. 

Degonnor, Father, 193. 

Delarocbe, 97. 

Delawares, 15 ; in tbe Ohio country, 148, 
167, 290 ; on the Alleghany, 175 ; out- 
witted, 239 ; their Ohio villages, 244, 
247, 252, 255 ; on the Susquehanna, 
246 ; rupture with, 341 ; raiding into 
Pennsylvania, 3(i5 ; war with, 373 ; 
still adhere to the French, 394 ; be- 
guile Bradstreet, 442. 

Delisle, maps, 16, 20, 63, 74-76, 78, 163 ; 
map of the Mississippi (1703), 78 ; 
and tbe Labontan story, 80 ; marks 
limits of Louisiana in a way imsat- 
isfactory to tbe government, 86 ; and 
Bob^, 111 ; his lake with east and west 
outlets, 112; boimds of Florida, 146; 
Carte d'Amerique, 208; and tbe Sea 
of the West, 216. 

Denny, governor of Pennsylvania, 377. 

Derbanne, 94. 

Des Plaines River. 24. 

Detroit, 56 ; founded, 72 ; its trade, 73, 
74 ; Cadillac leaves, 83 ; .ittaeked by 
Foxes, 90 ; threatened, 248 ; C^loron 
in command, 285 ; population, 285 ; 
its character and communications, 285 ; 
to be strengthened, 334 ; surrenders to 



Rogers, 406 ; its appearance, 406 ; 
neighboring Indians hostile, 412 ; Aca- 
dians in, 455. 

Dieskau, leaves France, 368 ; wounded, 
369. 

Dinwiddle, sends Washington to tbe 
French, 303 ; receives St. Pierre's re- 
ply, 307 ; correspondence, 307 ; risk- 
ing war, 308 ; bis character, 309, 340 ; 
urges a movement against Canada, 
310 ; refuses to carry out the terms 
of Washington's surrender, 315, 339 ; 
rebukes bis bouse of burgesses, 340; 
vigilant, 340 ; proposes two confed- 
erations of tbe colonies, 349 ; on tbe 
proposed campaign (17-55), 352 ; anx- 
ious, 354 ; helping Braddoek, 360 ; 
urges a line of frontier posts, 374 ; and 
the fortifying tbe passes, 376 ; urges a 
barrier colony, 376. 

Dobbs, Governor Arthur, 196, 455 ; and 
tbe northwest passage, 422 ; dies, 455. 

Dongan, Governor, 11. 

Douay, A., 37. 

Douglass, Dr. William, 232. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 426, 429. 

Drake, Samuel G., 183. 

Draper's Meadows, 230, 340 ; raided by 
Shawnees, 364. 

Du Boisson, 90. 

Dudley, governor of Massachusetts, 69, 
71. 

Duluth, 3, 23, 78 ; his fort on Lake Su- 
perior, 11.5. 

Dumas, Memoire, 251. 

Dumas, at Duquesne, 376, 377. 

Dummer, Jeremy, 72, 123, 162. 

Dumont, plan of New Orleans, 151 ; 
Louisiane, 213 ; on Moneacht - Ap^, 
213 ; bis map, 265. 

Dunbar, Colonel, with Braddoek, .361- 
363 ; his pusillanimous conduct, 365 ; 
bis camp, 439. 

Dunn, Samuel, on tbe sources of tbe 
Mississippi, 424. 

Duquesne. governor of Canada, 210 ; ar- 
rives, 294 ; bis instructions, 331, 3.32 ; 
warned of Braddock's expedition, 355. 

Du Tisne on the Missouri, 114. 

Easton (Pa.), treaty, 380, 390, 408. 

Edge Hill, battle, 438. See Busby Run. 

Edisto River, 168. 

Eel River Indians, 246. 

Egremont, Lord, 422. 

ElUcott, Andrew, 454. 

EUis at Hudson's Bay, 196. 

Endless Mountains, 18, 258. 

England and her colonies, claims in 
America, 1, 316; rivals of Spain, 10; 
of France, 131 ; cbar.acter of tbe peo- 
ple, 10 : buy fees of tbe Indian land, 
11, 323 ; war with France (1702), GS, 



470 



INDEX. 



(1755), 379; with Spain (1739), 186, 
(1744), 2->0, (1762), 412, 417; rise of 
spirit of independence, &>) ; treaty of 
Utrecht makes her the first nation in 
Europe, ST ; of Aix-la-Chapelle, 225 ; 
diplomacy with France (1755), 335; 
treaty of Paris (1763), 420; traders, 
11 ; cross the Alleghanies, 48; on the 
Mississippi, 100 ; active, 220 ; on the 
Wabash, 243 ; in the Ohio country, 
243 ; at Sandusky, 248 ; faithless pack- 
men, 353, 408 ; allies among the In- 
dians, 120 ; with the Chickasaws, 153 ; 
not properly supported, 242 ; claims 
derived from the Iroquois, 327 ; pop- 
ulation of the colonies, 162, 164, 218, 
347, 421 ; mixed character, 12 ; her 
colonies seeking confederation, 162, 
347 ; mutual jealousies, 185, 220 ; con- 
gress at Albany, 343 ; crown lands, 
167 ; naturalized citizens, 218, 445 ; 
sea-to-sea charters, 232, 317, 319- 
321 ; renounced 420, 428, 447 ; Ver- 
non's West Indies expedition, 218 ; 
newspapers, 218; her greatness, 420; 
extent of her American conquests, 
464 ; westward emigration, 445. 

Engle, Samuel, 213. 

English Pilot, 74. 

Ephrata, 240. 

Eries, destroyed, 15, 88, 326, 329. 

Espiritu Santo Bay, 76. 

Evans, Lewis, maps, 14, 18, 239-241, 
243-245 ; his journey, 241 ; his Mid- 
dle British Colonies, 304, 305, 336 ; his 
map of New River, 230 ; proposes 
to map the Ohio, 336. 

Fairfax, Lord, his manor, 180, 232, 283, 

312,313; his house, 233. 
Farmer, Major, at Fort Chartres, 462. 
Farrer, map, 4. 
Fauquier, protests against Bouquet's 

proclamation, 410. 
Fer, Nicolas de. See De Fer. 
Five Nations. See Iroquois. 
Flat-Head Indians, 142. See Choctaws. 
Fleet, the Boston printer, 218. 
Florid.a, what the name covered, 7<) ; 

bounds, 14() ; becomes English, 420, 

428. 
Fluvanna Iliver, 229. 
Fontaine, John, Journal, 129; Memoirs 

of a Huguenot Family, 278. 
Fontainebleau, treaty at, 418. 
Font^, 214. 
Forbes, General John, to attack Du- 

quesne, 385 ; weak in body, 387, 389 ; 

his army, 388 ; his route, 388 ; enters 

Duquesne, 391 ; returns, 391 ; dies, 

394. 
Forster. J. R.. 250. 
Fort Adams (Mississippi), 452, 



Fort Alabama, 153. 

Fort Assumption, 192, 265. 

Fort Augusta, 266. 

Fort Beauharnois, 145. 

Fort Bedford, 438. 

Fort Burd, 430. 

Fort Charles, 321. 

Fort Chartres, 119, 122, 144, 150, 268 ; 
ruins, 121 ; rebuilt, 361 ; Stirling 
takes possession, 457 ; Callot's map, 
458 ; Hutchins"s map, 460 ; Ross's map, 
461 ; Major Farmer arrives, 462. 

Fort Chissel, or Chiswell, 387. 

Fort Cond4, 153, 262. 

Fort Cr^vecceur, 120, 142. 

Fort Cumberland, 358, 438. 

Fort Dauphin, 201. 

Fort Dummer, 162. 

Fort Duquesne, named 312; Contre- 
cceur at, 357 ; rejoicing over Brad- 
dock's defeat, 364 ; position, 359, 375 ; 
blown up, 391 ; plan, 391. 

Fort. Edward, 126, 370; Webb at, 384. 

Fort Frederick (Crown Point), 174, 175. 

Fort Frederick (Maryland), 374. 

Fort Frontenac, 287 ; taken, 386. 

Fort Granville, 380. 

Fort Laboulaye, 50, 51, 75. 

Fort Ija Jonqui^re, 206. 

Fort La Reine, 195, 199, 201, 206, 207, 
320. 

Fort Le Boeuf, 297, 298, 301 ; Wash- 
ington at, 307 ; destroyed, 398 ; aban- 
doned, 438. 

Fort Le Sueur, 147. 

Fort L^vis. 404. 

Fort I'Huillier, 52,53, 147, 204 ; aban- 
doned, 54, 63 ; destroyed, 140. 

Fort Ligonier, 438. 

Fort Loudoun, 272, 275, 375 ; captured, 
411. 

Fort Louis (Mobile). See Fort St. Louis. 

Fort Lydius, 126. 

Fort Lyttleton, 375, 380. 

Fort Machault (Venango), 311, 375 ; re- 
ceives De Ligneris, 392. See Venango. 

Fort Mcintosh, 261. 

Fort Massac, map, 392, 393 ; repaired, 
394. 

Fort Massachusetts, 222. 

Fort Maurepas, 42, 195, 199. 

Fort Miami, 117, 247, 285, 329; taken 
by Nicholas, 248 ; rebuilt, 248 ; posi- 
tion. 261. 

Fort Natchez, 265 ; \new, 453 ; plan, 
451. .SVe Fort Rosalie. 

Fort Necessity, position, 313 ; attacked, 
314. 

Fort Orleans, 141. 

Fort Oniatanon, 120, 286. 

Fort Pitt, 291); position, 436; mis- 
placed in Scull's map, 439 ; attacked, 
438. 



INDEX. 



471 



Fort Pontehartrain (Detroit), 72, 329. 

Fort Prudhorame, demolished, 142. 

Fort Riley, 114. 

Fort Rosalie, 7, 150; built, 101; at- 
tacked, 187 ; map, 189 ; position, 350. 

Fort Roiig-e, 195. 

Fort Rouill^, 223, 287. 

Fort «t. Charles, 195, 198, 199. 

Fort St. Francois, 265, 269. 

Fort St. Jean Baptiste, 91, 156. 

Fort St. Joseph, 117, 119, 329. 

Fort St. Louis (Mobile), 64, 75, 413. 

Fort St. Louis de Calorette, 96. 

Fort St. Pierre, 198, 321. 

Fort Santa Rosa, 449. 

Fort Shirley, 380. 

FortSnelling-, 8, 9. 

Fort Stanwix, treaty, 444. 

Fort Ticonderoga, the French at, 370. 

Fort Tonibigbee, 202. 

Fort Toulouse, 86, 153, 321. 

Fort Vermilion, 8. 

Fort William Henry, 370 ; threatened, 
382 ; suiTendered, 383 ; massacre, 383. 

Fox Riter, French post at mouth, 144. 

Foxes (Indians), 22, 43, 74, 90; attack 
Detroit, 90 ; friends of the English, 
118; hostile, 144; paeifieated, 145; 
• marauding'. 145 ; ferocious, 264. 

France, her claims from exploration, 1, 
254, 316 ; acts of possession, 3 ; her 
rivals, 8; war with England (1702), 
68 ; co.stume of her soldiers ( 1710), 84 ; 
loses her ascendency by the treaty of 
Utrecht, 87 ; Louis XIV. leaves the 
country in gTeat debt, 99; facsimile of 
bill of the IJanque Royale, 103, 108 ; 
her power over the Indians, 116; 
8urpasst>d by the English in trade, 
116; bad colonizer, IKi; peace with 
Spain, 152 ; would divide America 
with Spain, 160 ; at war with Eng- 
land (1744), 220; her settlements in 
America, map of, 226, 227 ; her con- 
dition, 228 ; her fur trade, 323 ; free 
appropriation of land. 323 ; to inter- 
pose between the English and Spanish, 
332 ; diplomatic relations with Eng- 
land (17">5), 334; desires an Atlantic 
harbor, 341 ; her subjects in America, 
population, 347 ; her traders faithful, 
353 ; declares war, 379 ; her traders 
compared- with the English, 408 ; ne- 
gotiates for peace, 415; proposes a 
neutral territory west of the moun- 
tains, 416; treaty with Spain at Fon- 
tainebleau, 418 ; encroachments in 
America, 421 ; her failure in colonies, 
430. 

Franklin, Benjamin, The New England 
Courant, 162; on the Iroquois aid, 
222 ; in Pennsylvania politics, 232 ; 
his Plain Truth, 242 ; holds council 



with the Indians, 302 ; on the German 
Catholics, 339 ; at the Albany con- 
gress, 344, 348 ; uses the press, 348 ; 
his plan of barrier colonies over the 
mountains, 348 ; on the failure of the 
Albany plan, 350 ; his testimony be- 
fore the Stamp Act Committee, 330, 
350 ; his activity in Pennsylvania, 
354, 366 ; assists Braddock, 357 ; to 
defend Pennsylvania, 372 ; on the re- 
tention of Canada, 417, 419 ; and the 
Ohio region, 446. 

Franklin (Pa.), 311. 

Franquelin, 74, 76; facsimile of map, 
77. 

Fraser, Lieutenant, 456. 

Frazier, John, 306. 

Frederick of Prussia, 395. 

French Creek, 30, 297, 298, 301. 

French Margarets, 244, 305. 

French neutrals. See Acadians. 

Frontiers, evils of the, 242 ; vagrants of 
the, 409. 

Fry, Colonel Joshua, and the western 
quest, 216 ; in command of Virginia 
regiment, 309 ; dies, 312. 

Fry and Jeff erson. Map of Virginia, 231, 
233, 236, 237, 312 ; line run by them, 
232. 

Gage; Thomas, with Braddock, 362 ; 
at Montreal, 420 ; succeeds Amherst, 
441 ; plans campaign with Bouquet, 
441 ; proclamation to the French on 
the Illinois, 462. 

Galena, mines, 122. 

Galissonni^re and V^rendrye, 204 ; in 
Quebec, 223 ; to colonize the Ohio, 
225 ; sends an expedition to the Ohio, 
252 ; recalled to France, 25(5 ; fearful 
of the English on the Ohio, 284 ; on the 
English encroachments, 335. 

Galphin, George, 411. 

Gates, Horatio, with Braddock, 362. 

Gee, Joshua, on the English trade, 169, 
219, 229, 243. 

Genesee River, 30. 

Gentil, Abb^, 33. 

George II., died, 405. 

George III., proclamation (1763), 428. 

Georgia, Spanish mines in, 18 ; charter, 
184; settlei-s, 184; bounds, 184, 319- 
.321,428. 

German Catholics in America, 339. 

German Flats, 164. 

Germanna, 167, 181. 

Germans in America, 1 2 ; in Louisiana, 
106, 110, 1.54; in Virginia, 128, 129, 
167, 178 ; on the Missouri, 141 ; in 
Pennsylvania, 238, 242, 251, 338, 376. 

Gibson, i., 243. 

Gist, Christopher, sent out by the Ohio 
Company, 282 ; his journal, 282 ; on 



472 



INDEX. 



the Scioto, 288 ; his route in Ken- 
tucky, 290, 291, 304 ; sent out again, 
292 ; meets Indians at Logstown, 2Uo ; 
maps the Ohio, 304 ; with Washing- 
ton, 30t) ; his house, 312 ; his settle- 
ment, 314, 358 ; on the Ohio, 330. 

Gladwin, at Detroit, 413; expecting an 
Indian outbreak, 434. 

Glen, governor of South Carolina, 280, 
2SS, 308, 354. 

Gooch, governor of Virginia, makes 
grants, 177, 179. 

Gordon, governor of Pennsylvania, 174. 

Graff, L. de, 36. 

Graffenreid, De, 128. 

Gran Quivii-a, 96. 

Grant, General, with Forbes, 388 ; de- 
feated, 389 ; sent against the Chero- 
kees, 411 ; at Fort Pitt, 442. 

Gravier, Jacques, 57, 61. 

Great Lakes, undeveloped geography, 
13 ; water-shed, 27. 

Great Meadows, 439. 

Great Miami River, 254. See Big 
Miami, and Miami. 

Great Slave Lake, 8. 

Green Bay, 116 ; portage, 21, 29, 118, 
119, 145; map, 22, 29; deserted, 120, 
144, 440 ; settlers, 264. 

Green earth, 48, 52. 

Green River, 19, 32, 52. 

Greenbrier Company, 390. 

Greenbrier River, 232. 

Greeuhow on the Oregon question, 214. 

Grimaldi, Spanish minister, 418. 

Guadeloupe compared with Canada, 417. 

Guest's house, 439. See Gist. 

Guignas, Father, at Lake Pepin, 145, 193. 

Guinea, negroes from, 154. 

Hakluyt, 316. 

Hale, Horatio, 20, 330. 

Half-King, a Mingo chief, 302 ; protests 
to Marin, 303 ; meets Washington, 
30() ; at the forks, 311 ; at Fort Neces- 
sity, 315 ; dies, 341. 

Hanbury, John, Loudon merchant, 251, 
360. 

Hardy, Governor, .379. 

Harmon, Adam, 230. 

Harris's Ferry, 240, 243. 

Harvard College, class rank, 12. 

Ilat-niakiug, 174. 

ILnnland, General, 404. 

Hawkins, corrects Mitchell's map, 301. 

Hazard, Samuel, 371. 

Heath, Sir Robert, 46. 

Heathcote, Colonel, 124. 

Hendrick, the Mohawk, 2.55, 308; at 
the Albany Congress, 344 ; in the 
Lake George campaign, 309. 

Hennepin, his maps, 13, 70 ; his men- 
dacity, 38, 43, 76. 



Henrv, Alexander, at Mackinac, 407. 

Hill, General, 123. 

Hillsborough and the proclamation 

(1763), 431. 
Hite, Joist, 178. 
Hockhocking, 244, 305, 329. 
Hocquart, 176. 
Holmes, Admiral, 399. 
Holston River, 19, 231. 
Homann, 148 ; maps, 51, 93 ; and the 

Lahontau story, 80, 111 ; makes Lake 

Winnipeg the source of the Mississippi, 

11.5. 
Hopkins, Stephen, 344. 
Horses, procured by the French from 

the Spanish, 84. 
Houmas, 38, 40, 44, 49, 64, 107, 448. 
Howard, John, 319. 
Howe, Lord, killed, 386. 
Howells, Map of Pennsylvania, 297. 
Hubert, Sieur, 111, 1.54. 
Hudson Bay Company, 88 ; bounds, 196. 
Hudson's Bay, French and English 

rivalry, 2 ; English, established here 

by the peace of Utrecht, seek to push 

west, 115 ; English at, 196, 208 ; map, 

421. 
Huguenots, 178, 225. 
Humphreys and Abbot's map (1861), 

9, 19, 27, 31, 41, 89. 
Hunter, Robert, governor of New York 

and Virginia, 88, 123. 
Hurons, 285 ; near Sandusky, 248 ; de- 
stroyed, 326. 
Huske, map of the English colonies, 

327. 
Hutchins, Thomas, on St. Louis, 4.33 ; 

map of Bouquet's march, 436, 437; 

map of the Dlinois region, 460. 
Hutchinson, Thomas, at the Albany 

Congress, 344. 

Iberville, his parentage, 2 ; at Hudson's 
Bay, 2 ; seeks a way to the Pacific, 
2 ; his expedition to the Mississippi, 
33, 36 ; relations with Pontehartrain, 
35 ; portrait, 37 ; enters the Mis- 
si.ssippi, 38 ; reports to Ponteh;u"train, 
43 ; returns, 48 ; on the Mississippi, 
54 ; explorations mapped, 54, 55 ; 
confidence in the Great Valley's future, 
60; returns to France, 60; in Paris, 
planning explorations toward Califor- 
nia, 62 ; at Biloxi, 63 ; his plans, 66 ; 
dies, (53. 

Iberville River, 424, 448. See Acansia; 
Ascantia. 

Illinois country, a part of New France, 
116; map, 119, 121, 142, 148; an- 
nexed to Louisiana, 120, 148; bounds, 
148 ; furnishing provisions to Loui- 
siana, 192 ; an Indian country, 113, 
295, 329 ; population, 259, 268, 462 ; 



INDEX. 



473 



life there, 259, 200; number of 
French, 407 ; the country should he 
bought, 432 ; wheat culture, 447 ; 
English attempts to occupy the coun- 
try, 450 ; Gage's proclamation, 402 ; 
some French remove, 402 ; French 
house, 40;>. 

Illinois Indians, moving south, 01, 202 ; 
Christianized, 84, 157 ; claimed to be 
within the Iroquois conquests, 90, 
327, 3o3 ; friends of the French, 118 ; 
depleted, 177. 

Illinois River, 24 ; mapped, 28. 

Indians, numbers in the south, 170; 
'■ Alleghanied," 170; their paths in 
the Ohio country, 182, 247 ; Adair's 
history and his map, 202, 203 ; at 
the south, 200 ; their league, 305 ; as 
affected respectively by the English 
and French policies, 323, 343 ; gained 
by the better trade of the English, 
320, 350 ; sell prisoners, 353 ; and 
Braddock's expedition, 355 ; tedious 
in negotiations, 350 ; their hunting- 
grounds, 407, 432 ; protected by proc- 
lamation, 430 ; becoming incensed, 
433 ; policy of gifts to them, 433 ; a 
reservation for them, 444. 

Inglis famUy, 230. 

Innes, Colonel, 304. 

Irish in Carolina, 271. See Scotch- Irish. 

Irondequoit Bay, 174, 177, 250, 287. 

Iroquois, their commanding position, 
13 ; their power, 15 ; meet the Mi- 
amis, 15 ; map, 25 ; at Lake Michi- 
gan, 4;! ; and the western Indians, 
50, 58, 07 ; and the Jesuits, 58, 70 ; 
sought by English and French, 07 ; 
treaty (1701), 07 ; their beaver-hunt- 
ing grounds, 07, 90, 148 ; treaty 
with French at Montreal, 07 ; alli- 
ances, 09 ; Jesuits and Protestant niis- 
sion.aries, 70 ; Jesuits expelled, 71 ; 
the treaty of Utrecht, 88, 125, 100 ; 
relations with the French, 118 ; a bar- 
rier, 122; warriors, decorated by Gov- 
ernor Hunter, 124 ; the French in the 
Onondaga country, 124 ; ready to as- 
sist the English, 125 ; divided between 
French and English interests, 125 ; 
trails, 125; Tusearoras join them, 
133 ; r.aiding south, 133 ; their tiibal 
grounds, 101 ; agree to keep their 
raids north of the Potomac, 1()3 ; con- 
firm grants north of Lake Erie, 105 ; 
grant Lands on Ontario, 105 ; on the 
Ohio, 170 ; disconcerted at the Eng- 
lish failure to attack Canada, 223 ; 
neutralitv, 223 ; council at Albany 
(1748), 224 ; at Quebec, 224 ; attacked 
in the valley of Virginia, 235 ; war- 
ring against the Catawbas, 235, 200, 
287 ; claim compensation for lands, 



235 ; drive out the Delawares, 239 ; 
seven tribes, 244, 245 ; in the Ohio 
country, 15, 290 ; their domination, 
325 ; generally friends of the English, 
325; their country, 17, 325; whether 
entered first by French or English, 320; 
claimed by French and English, 820 ; 
their conquests, 15, 234, 290, 320-328, 
333 ; different views of its bounds, 
330 ; deed of 1701, 330 ; their persons, 
not their land, subject to England in 
the French view, 332 ; treaty of 1720, 
332 ; cede tract on Ontario and Erie, 
332 ; decline to join in Braddock's 
campaign, 355 ; uneasy after Brad- 
dock's defeat, 3(55 ; brought over to 
the English, 380; conferences, 381; 
their doom announced by the French, 
389 ; their warriors, 414. 
Itasca Lake, 5, 9. 

Jackson River, 305. 

Jaillot, 74, 115, 148 ; erroneous maps, 
110. 

James River, source, 129, 181. 

Janvier, map, 415. 

Japan, way toward, 112. 

Jefferson, Peter, 232. 

Jefferys, Thomas, Course of the Missis- 
sippi, 50 ; American Atlas, 109 ; map 
of V^rendrye's explorations, 195 ; on 
the Sea of the West, 210 ; map of pro- 
posed neutral territory, 41() ; map 
(1700), 421 ; on the source of the Mis- 
sissippi, 200, 424 ; connects Lake Win- 
nipeg with the Pacific, 420 ; map of 
New Albion, 429 ; map of the coast 
of the Gulf of Mexico, 448, 449. 

Jesuits, warned out of New York, 14 ; 
among the Iroquois, 58 ; expelled, 71 ; 
jealous of traders, 73 ; and Cadillac, 
73 ; and the Indians, 84, 124, 157 ; at 
New Orleans, 158 ; improve agricul- 
ture, 158 ; in Louisiana, 271 ; ex- 
pelled from Freneli territory, 447. 

Jobnson, Sir William, 17 ; among the 
Onondagas, 224, 228 ; arms his adher- 
ents, 243 ; gets one of C^loron's plates, 
252 ; among the Iroquois, 280 ; news 
of Marin's expedition, 301 ; as man- 
ager of the Indians, .324 ; his Molly 
Brant, 324 ; on the Iroquois conquests, 
330; on the Iroquois alliance, 331, 
352 ; at the Albany congress, 344 ; 
restraining the Iroquois, 308 ; prepar- 
ing for a campaign, 309 ; wounded at 
Lake George, 3()9; made a baronet, 
370 ; treats with Teedyuscung, 379 ; 
at Niagara, 398 ; tact with the savage, 
308, 407 ; with the Indians at Detroit, 
412 ; alarmed, 41; J ; urges a property 
line to protect them, 432 ; makes 
peace with the Senecas, 441 ; makes 



474 



INDEX. 



treaty with Pontiac, 445 ; sends Cro- 
ghan west, 45(3. 

Joliet, 4, 6, 2-2, 318. 

Joncaire among the Onondagas, 12.5, 
163; his influence, 124; at Niagara, 
12.5, 126 ; on the Alleghany River, 
150 ; accomijanies C^loron, 252 ; among 
the Iroquois, 286 ; at Logstown, 290 ; 
receives Washington at Venango, 306. 

Jonqiii^re, La, governor of Canada, 85, 
204, 223, 256 ; his instructions, 334 ; 
in Quebec, 285, 288 ; warning Clin- 
ton, 286 ; asks to be recalled, 288 ; 
dies, 288. 

Juchereau of Montreal, 70. 

Jumonville attacked, 312. 

Juniata River, 239, 241 ; portages, 18, 
127 ; trouble in the valley, 256 ; de- 
serted, 367 ; map, 345. 

Kahokia, 121, 268. See CahoMa. 

Kalm, Peter, sees V^rendrye, 203 ; his 
views, 219; on the Albany traders, 
250. 

Kanawha River, 19, 229 ; route of the 
Carolina traders, 254 ; map, 304. 

Kankakee River, 24. 

Kansas Indians, 140, 211. 

Kansas River, a barrier against the 
Spaniards, 141. 

Kaskaskia, 56, 61, 84, 301 ; becomes a 
parish, 122 ; receives slaves, 122 ; de- 
scribed by Charlevoix, 146, 150 ; ear- 
liest land warrant, 146 ; miners, 122, 
146 ; Berthelot at, 262 ; and the Jesu- 
its, 447 ; French goods in, 455 ; map 
of the vicinity, 121, 459-461. 

Keeney, J., 319. 

Keith, governor of Pennsylvania, 127, 
163 ; on the English claim, 331. 

Kelly, a trader, 272. 

Kennedy, Archibald, scheme of frontier 
colonies, 349. 

Kentucky, earliest house in, 279 ; region 
uninhabited, 32(). 

Kentucky River, 19, 292, 304. 

Ker, John, of Kersland, Memoirs, 158. 

Kerlerec, 271, 276, 454, 

Kickapoos, 107, 119, 144, 288; their 
country (Quicapous), 329 ; waylay 
Croghan, 456. 

Kill Ruck Town, 261. 

Kingsford, William, on Braddock, 357 ; 
on Pontiac, 406. 

Kitchin, Thomas, map of the French 
settlements, 22(), 227 ; of Cherokee 
country, 272, 273 ; map (1703), 428. 

Kittanning, 239, 301 ; Delawares at, 
365. 

Knowles, governor of Louisbourg, 274. 

La Come, 398. 
Ij». Forest, 83. 



La France (an Indian), 196. 

La Harpe, Benard de, arrives, 106 ; at 
the Baye de St. Bernard, 94, 152 ; in 
the Red River country, 9.5 ; exploring 
the Mississippi, 112 ; on Charlevoix, 
138 ; anxious about English encroach- 
ments, 149; on the Arkansas River, 
156. 

La Jemeraye, 198. 

La Jonqui^re. See Jonquifere. 

La Noiie, 157. 

La Pointe, 198. 

La Potherie, Histoire de I' Avi^rique, its 
map, 79. 

La Presentation, 225. 

La Ronde, 198. 

La Salle, 4, 20, 24, 26, 74, 318 ; on the 
Ohio, 15 ; tender, 21 ; his explora- 
tions, 34, 54 ; his Mohegans, 61 ; his ex- 
plorations the basis of French claims, 
90 ; killed, 6, 155 ; alleged New Eng- 
landers with, 336 ; on the Mississippi, 
452. 

Laclede, founds St. Louis, 4.33. 

Lafitau, Maeurs des Sauvages, 137; his 
Carte de V Aiiurique, 137. 

Lahontan, 161 ; and his books, 80 ; his 
lake, 80 ; fate of his story, 80 ; his 
Riviere Longue mapped, 82, 113, 424; 
discredited. 111. 

Lake of the Assinipoiles (Winnipeg), 
11.5. 

Lake Borgne, 49, 50. 

Lake Champlain, occupied by the 
French, 174. 

Lake Chautauqua, 252. 

Lake of the Christineaux, 115. See Lake 
of the Woods. 

Lake Erie, map, 25, 27-29, 226, 244, 
245, 256, 425 ; portages, 26, 244, 245, 
247,261; southern shore, 120, 249; 
proposed fort on, 127 ; map, 143. 

Lake George, 370 ; Amherst on, 395. 

Lake Huron, map, 25, 117, 119, 226, 
425. 

Lake Lovelace, 188. 

Lake Manitoba, 199. 

Lake Maui'epas, 49. 

Lake Michigan, portages, 24 ; currents, 
2(i; map, 27-29, 117, 119, 20-5, 226, 
425. 

Lake Nepissing, 428. 

Lake Nipigon, V^rendrye at, 193 ; posi- 
tion. 195. 

Lake Ontario. French vessels on, 126, 
165,287 ; English lands on, 165 ; map, 
25, 227, 425. 

Lake Pepin, 9, 52, 144, 145, 147 ; mis- 
sion, 193 ; fort, 194, 264 ; position, 
197. 

Lake Pontchartrain, 42, 49, 50 ; map, 
423, 448. 

Lake Superior, portages, 22 ; early map, 



INDEX. 



475 



28, 29, 117, 119, 205, 226, 321, 425 ; 
outlet to the west, 77, 115 ; vessel on, 
198 ; English post on, 413. 

Lake Winnipeg, 97, 115, 136. 148; sup- 
posed connection with the Mississippi, 
114, 205, 321, 426; on the western 
route, 198, 199, 215 ; connecting with 
the Pacific, 216, 429. 

Lake of the Woods (Christineaux), 115, 
194, 197, 198. 

Lancaster, treaty (1744), 235 ; road 
agreed upon, 237 ; pack-saddles made 
there, 238; conference (1748), 243. 

Langlade, Charles, 2()4 ; at Green Bay, 
264 ; attacks PickawiUany, 2'.»3 ; at 
Duquesne, 361 ; at Fort William 
Henry, 384 ; leaves Montreal, 404. 

Laurel Creek, 231. 

Laurel Hill, 439. 

Laurel Ridge, 230. 

Law, John, and his career, 99 ; portrait, 
100 ; his opportunity, 102 ; the Mis- 
sissippi Company, 102 ; sends over set- 
tlers, ] 06 ; on the top of the wave, 
108; BanqueRoyale, 108, 110; Com- 
pany of the Indies, 108 ; Quinquem- 
poix, 108, 109 ; flees, 110 ; grant on 
the Arkansas, 156. 

L'Epinay, arrives in Louisiana, 101. 

Le Blond de la Tour, 154. 

Le Page du Pratz, arrives, 106 ; Histoire 
de la Louisiane, 106, 213 ; and Mon- 
cacht-Ap^, 210; his map, 269. 

Le Rouge and the Sea of the West, 214 ; 
his map, 215 ; edits Mitchell's map, 
301. 

Le Sueur, his expedition north, 32, 48, 
52. 

Lead mines, 86, 121. See Mines. 

Lee, Arthur, 338. 

Lee, Colonel, of Virginia, 288. 

Lee, governor of Virginia, 230. 

Lemaire, 110. 

Lemoyne, Charles, 2. 

Lettres Edifiantes, 120. 

L^vis, at Quebec, 378 ; defeats Murray, 
403. 

Lewis, Major Andrew, on the frontiers, 
354 ; attacks the Shawnees, 377. 

Lewds, Captain, 365. 

Licking River, 292. 

Lignery, De, and the Foxes, 144, 146. 

Limoges, Father de, 90. 

Lingeris, at Ouiatanon, 288 ; at Du- 
quesne, 380, 387 ; flies, 392 ; defeated 
by Johnson, 398. 

Little Meadows, 211 ; owned by Wash- 
ington, 311. 

Livingston, Robert, 14, 56, 67, 69, 72. 

Loftiis, Major, driven back, 450, 452. 

Logan (Indian), 239. 

Logan, James, of Pennsylvania, 17, 24, 
124, 125, 166, 174. 



Logstown, 247, 252, 261, 301, 436 ; its 
position, 282 ; treaty at, 293 ; Croghan 
urges its strengthening, 302 ; Wash- 
ington at, 306. 

Longueil and the Chickasaw war, 192 ; 
in power, 289, 293. 

Loramie Creek, 284. 

Loudoun, Earl of, arrives, 378 ; incom- 
petent, 382 ; would attack Louis- 
bourg, 382. 

Louis XIV., dies, 99, 116. 

Louis XV., 228. 

Louisa Fork, 230. 

Louisbourg taken (1745), 221 ; restored 
to France (1748), 225 ; attacked by 
Wolfe, 386. 

Louisiana, Danville's map, 6 ; capabili- 
ties, 33 ; mapped, 34, 142, 143 ; popu- 
lation, 62, 65, 83, 102, 151, 1.57, 188, 
259, 421 ; disordered life, 65 ; limits, 
78 ; defined in Crozat's grant, 85 ; 
Cadillac, governor, 83 ; marriageable 
girls arrive, 85 ; bounds kept vague 
by the French, 86 ; stockades built, 
lOO; under Law's Mississippi Company, 
102 ; settlers and slaves arrive, 102, 
106 ; land concessions, 104 ; troops 
arrive, 106 ; Germans arrive, 106 ; 
supposed mines, 108 ; news of Law's 
flight arrives, 110; its barriers. 111; 
becoming formidable to the English, 
134 ; northern bounds indefinite, 146 ; 
claims the Wabash country against 
Canada, 149 ; neglected by France, 
152; vagrants in, 171 ; Natchez war, 
188 ; becomes a royal province, 188 ; 
Vaudreuil in command, 259 ; Du- 
mont's map, 265 ; districted, 268 ; 
sugar cane introduced, 271 ; Kerlereo 
governor, 272 ; shut off from France, 
276 ; inciting the Indians against Car- 
olina, 411 ; transferred to Spain, 418; 
map made for the Compagnie Fran- 
gaise, 423 ; cession to Spain made 
known, 454 ; UUoa arrives, 454 ; Aca- 
dians arrive, 455. 

Louisville rapids, 14. 

Loups. See Delawares. 

Louvigny, 33 ; sent against the Foxes, 
118. 

Lowdermilk, 311. 

Loyal Land Company, 230, 277- 

Loyalhannon, 375 ; Forbes at, 390. 

Lugtenberg, 78. 

Lyman, General Phineas, in the Lake 
George campaign, 369. 

Lyttleton, Governor, his expedition 
against the Indians, 272, 276 ; attacks 
the Cherokees, 411. 

Macarty, 268. 
Mackav, 168. 
MacKeller, Patrick, 362, 



476 



INDEX. 



Mackenzie River, 8, 32. 

Mackinac, its trade, 74 ; post, 118 ; sur- 
renders, 407 ; massacre at, 440 ; Indi- 
ans, 164. 

Madoc, Prince, 200. 

Maldonado, 214. 

Mallet, 200. 

Maltravers, Lord, 46. 

Mandans, lUU ; described, 200, 203; 
their river, 97, 195, 426. 

Marameg mines, 104, 105. 

Marcel, Reproductions, 23, 28, 29. 

Marest, Gabriel, 57. 

Margry's Collection, 52, 255 ; on V^ren- 
drye's explorations, 201. 

Marin, Sieur, at Green Bay, 204 ; sent to 
the Ohio, 300 ; dies, 303. 

Marquette, 4, 5, 16, 318, 321 ; recol- 
lected, ()2 ; belief in a westward way 
by the Missouri, 78. 

Marshall, 0. H., Historical Writings, 255. 

Maryland, and the treaty of Lancaster, 
236 ; boundary disputes, 279 ; French 
settlers in, 339 ; raided, 376. 

Mascoutins, 117, 144, 28S ; their country, 
329 ; waylay Croghan, 456. 

Massachusetts, provincial charter, 322. 

Massawomekes, 16. 

Massonites, 156. 

Matagorda, 152. 

Maumee River, 26, .30 ; portage, 118, 
119, 149; English traders, 120; fort 
on the, 255 ; earlier called Miami, 
which see. 

Maury, James, and the Sea of the West, 
216 ; on the Ohio country, 336. 

Mayo, Colonel William, 179. 

McGilwray, Lachlan, 411, 

McKee, Alexander, 413. 

McKee, Thomas, 345. 

Mello, Portuguese minister, 420. 

Membr^, journal, 40. 

Memoires des Commissaires du Roi, 319. 

Mercator, 3 ; and the Appalachians, 13 ; 
his physiography of North America, 
317. 

Mercer, Lieutenant-Colonel, at Pitts- 
burgh, 392. 

Mermet, Father, 84, 128. 

Messager, Father, 198. 

Mexico, Gulf of, defective cartography, 
35, 38 ; modem map, 41 ; early maps, 
44, 45, 51, 55, 59 ; mapped by Franque- 
lin, 77 ; in La Potherie's map, 79. 

Miami River, 19, 247 ; portage, 334 ; 
later called Maumee, which see. 

Miami confederacy, 26, 282. 

Miamis, 15, 84, 143 ; make peace with 
the Senecas, 70 ; divided between 
English and French, 70 ; send embassy 
to Albany, 71 ; English traders among, 
149 ; called Twightwees, 243 ; alli- 
ance with the English, 243 ; hostile 



toward the French. 246 ; ■^'illages. 247 ; 
restored to English favor, 249 ; reject 
C^loron's advances, 254 ; attacked by 
the French, 284 ; sue for peace, 294 ; 
their country, 295, 305, 329. 

Michigan peninsula, 25 ; supervised from 
Detroit, 116; the supposed physio- 
graphy, 116 ; badly mapped, 116, 117, 
119. 

Mille Lacs, 9, 22, 80 ; mapped, 81. 

Mines, 8() ; copper, 70 ; lead, 70, SO, 121, 
147; in Illinois, 120; in the Appa- 
lachians. 134 ; near Kaskaskia, 146. 
See Silver Mines. 

Minet, 74. 

Mingoes, 16 ; on the Ohio, 176 ; their 
town, 247, 261 ; a branch of the Sene- 
eas, 290 ; their origin, 413. 

Minnesota River, 8, 9, 30, 32, 52. 

Minnisinks, IG. 

Minquaas, 333. 

Miquelon, 420. 

Miroir, A. du, 10. 

Mississippi Company, 102 ; map of Lou- 
isiana and seal, 107. 

Mississippi River, its existence suspected, 
3, 318 ; its character and extent, 5 ; 
duration of passage up and down, 5 ; 
its surging, 5 ; its importance slowly 
recognized, 6, 13 ; mapped, 7, 34, 44, 
51, 55, 79, 107, 121, 142, 147, 153, 208, 
215, 226, 262, 265, 267, 321, 328, 329 ; 
map of its sources, 34, 77, 79, 107, 

425 ; English Turn, 45, 49, .50, 75, 423, 
448 ; alleged visit of the English(1676), 
46 ; mouths, 50, 51, 55, 318 ; Fort La- 
boulaye built, 52 ; its source conjec- 
tured and sought, 58, 78, 137, 197, 204, 
206, 424, 427 ; Franquelin's map, 77 ; 
erroneous course, 79 ; called St. Louis, 
95 ; the " German coast," 1 10 ; a route 
west from its source supposed, 114; 
different views of its source, 114 ; 
source in Lake Winnipeg, 115, 319, 
320 ; upper parts within the Virginia 
charter, 127, 128 ; called Mischacebe, 
135 ; absence of missions on the lower 
river, 157 ; alleged early English vis- 
itors, 217 ; its channel the English 
bounds imder the treaty of Paris, 
422 ; navigation free under the treaty, 
424 ; connects with Hudson's Bay, 

426 ; connects with the Pacific, 426 ; 
in relation to the Pontiac war, 440 ; 
Jeffery's map of the lower parts 
(1768). 448 ; map by Lieutenant Ross, 
450 ; " Cajean coast," 455 ; Callot's 
map, 458 ; Indians quiet, 462. 

Mississippi Sound, 42. 

Mississippi valley at the end of the sev- 
teenth century, 1 ; its character and 
extent, 4 ; its upper parts, 9 ; entered 
by English traders, 318. 



INDEX. 



477 



Missouri River, its length, 5 ; heads of, 
map, 31 ; seen by Marquette, 32 ; 
divides of, 32; mapped, 53, 113, 205, 
321 ; as a westward way, 78, 200 ; 
fort on, 80 ; its source sought, 80 ; 
eaUed St. Pierre, 85 ; source unknown, 
97, 140 ; tribes on the upper courses, 
111 ; alleged route to the Pacific, 111, 
112,206; mines, 112; base of traffic 
with Mexico, 112; branch leading to- 
ward the South Sea, 112; explored 
by La Harpe, 114 ; by Du Tisne, 114; 
confluence with the Mississippi, map, 
121 ; source near the Pacific, 137, 138, 
426 ; to be defended against the Span- 
ish, 141 ; Germans on the river, 141 ; 
grants on the river, 141 ; traversed by 
Moncacht-Ap^, 211. 

Missouris (Indians), 32. 

Mitchell, John, on the Mississippi source, 
206; on the Iroquois claim, 234, 331, 
335 ; his British Colonies (1755), 104, 
154, 155, 280, 332, 3;)6. 

Mobile and its communications, 268 ; 
English at, 440. 

Mobile Bay, 59 ; selected for a post, 62 ; 
occupied, 64 ; life, 64 ; map, 75, 423, 
449 ; confused mapping, 76. 

Mobile River, 21, 51. 

Mobilians, 64. 

Mohawk River, 72 ; Palatines on, 14 ; 
trails along, 14. 

Mohawks, chiefs go to England, 124 ; 
at Caughnawaga, 224 ; attack La Pre- 
sentation, 225. 

Mohegans, 162 ; on the Mississippi, 61. 

Mohickans, 333. 

Mohoning, 261. 

Moingona River, 53, 113, 140, 205, 262. 

Molineaux mappemonde, 317. 

Moll, Herman, 24, 148 ; and the Lahon- 
tan story, 80, 111 ; his maps, 96, 104, 
163; map shows Indian trails, 132; 
and the English claims, 161, 330, 331. 

Moncacht-Ap^, story of, 210. 

Monckton, General, 39(5 ; at Pittsburgh, 
403, 405 ; commands the southern de- 
partment, 409, 410. 

Monongahela River, 18 ; settlers on, 293, 
358, 359 ; interlopers on, 410 ; map, 
439. 

Monopolies, 118. 

Montcalm at Quebec, 878 ; takes Os- 
wego, 379 ; at Ticonderoga, 379 ; de- 
spairs of success, 394 ; disputes with 
Vaudreuil, 395 ; made military head, 
395 ; awaiting attack, 396 ; killed, 
401. 

Montesquieu, 171, 228. 

Montgomery, Sir Robert, his grant, 134. 

Montigny, 43, 56. 

Montour, Andrew, 71, 236 ; in the Ohio 
country, 282, 284, 290; needed by 



Washington, 312; trying to appease 

the Indians, 365. 
Montour, Madame, 124, 236. 
Montreal, treaty at (1701), 14, 67 ; held 

by Vaudreuil, 404 ; surrendered, 404. 
Moore, Colonel, and Carolina forces, 64 ; 

campaign against the Tusearoras, 1.33. 
Morand attacks the Foxes, 264. 
Moravians migrate from Georgia to 

Pennsylvania, 186, 258; settlement, 

261 ; moving west, 445. 
Morgan, settler on the Shenandoah, 167. 
Morris, Governor, and the Pennsylvania 

assembly, 341 ; on the Albany plan, 

350. 
Mortar, the, a Creek Indian, 411. 
Morton, Thomas, 317. 
Mount and Page's English Pilot, 74. 
Mount Braddock, 314. 
Mountains of Bright Stones, 97, 195. 
Munseys. 341. 

Murray (Lord Mansfield), 219. 
Murray, General, 396 ; in Quebec, 401, 

403 ; advancing on Montreal, 404. 
Muskingum River, 19, 30, 239, 245, 247. 

305, 329, 437. 

Nanfan, Lieutenant-Governor, 67. 

Nash, Beau, 228. 

Nashville, 87. 

Nassonites, 96. 

Natchez Indians, 142, 268 ; their coun- 
try, 7, 54, 95, 187; wars with the 
French, JOl, 187 ; misplaced in Law's 
map, 107 ; traders among, 133 ; Charle- 
voix at, 150, 157; destroyed, 153; 
attacked, 157 ; plan of town and fort, 
451. 

Natchitoches, 56, 95, 153, 268, 269, 321 ; 
occupied by the French, 94 ; garrison 
at, 154. 

Navigation laws, 69, 172. 

Nelson, governor of Virginia, 251. 

Neptune Franqaise, 205, 426. 

Neuse River, 133. 

New Albion, 317, 429. 

New England, frontiers ravaged, 70, 71, 
164, 222 ; relations with the English 
occupation of the Ohio region, 122 
rising feelings of independence, 162 
her people in Pennsylvania, 166 
trade in rum, 173; privateers, 219, 
population, 219; her western trade, 
232 ; alleged explorers of the Missis- 
sippi from, 336. 

New Hampshire forests, 219. 

New Mexico trade, 78. 

New Orleans, portage at, 38 ; site, 42, 
49, 104 ; Charlevoix describes it, 150 ; 
Dumont's plan, 151; laid out, 154; 
described, 158 ; Ursulines arrive, 158 ; 
defenses improved, 188 ; ser\ale in- 
surrection, 188 ; becoming prosperous, 



478 



INDEX. 



lOi? ; its appearance, 259 ; depends on 
the Illinois for food, 259 ; its life 
under Vaudreuil, 2G0 ; fears of an at- 
tack, 2()4. 

New River, 169, 229, 231 ; source of, 
278 ; mapped, 291. 

New York, manors in, 12 ; Jesuits 
warned off, 1-1; spared and New 
England ravaged, 70 ; and tiie Cana- 
dian trade, 71 ; threatened by the 
French, 08 ; charged with being neu- 
tral, 123; charged with indifference 
to Iroquois ravages on the other colo- 
nies, 133 ; claims on the Ohio, 167 ; 
its legislature opposes Clinton, 222 ; 
her apathy, 308. 

Newcastle, Earl of, 222. 

Niagara, French post at, 125, 164 ; 
strengthened, 165 ; as a French post, 
286 ; threatened by Shirley, 367 ; its 
importance, 378 ; attacked, 397 ; cap- 
tured, 398. 

Niagara River, English acquire land on, 
441. 

Nicholas, a Huron chief, his conspiracy, 
24S. 

Nicollet, Jean, 22, 206. 

Niverville, ChevaUer de, 206, 210. 

North America, estimated width, 3 ; its 
central trough, 6 ; its physiography 
misconceived by Mercator, 13 ; La 
Potherie's map, 79 ; Lafitau's map, 
137 ; Bowen and Gibson's map, 152 ; 
map (1755), 427. 

North Carolina, English in, 1 ; its 
assembly urged to support the war, 
342. 

Northwest passage, 421 ; English pre- 
mium offered for its distsovery, 210 ; 
probability of it, 213. 

Noyen, De, 30. 

Ochagach. iSee Otchaga. 

Ocmulgee River, 135. 

Oconee River, 135. 

Ogdensburg, 225. 

Oglethorpe, making pacts with the In- 
dians. 184. 

Ohio. State of, first white child born in, 
444 ; first white man's house in, 445. 

Ohio Company, 250, 280; receives its 
grant, 277 ; sends out Gist, 282, 292 ; 
petitions for a location, 292 ; and the 
war, 307 ; its storehouse at Red Stone 
Creek, 311 ; favored by Newcastle, 
360 ; seeking Bouquet's influence, 40i). 

Ohio River, character of its basin, 14 ; 
its freshets, 14 ; Iroquois on the, 15 ; 
Shawnees and Cherokees, 15 ; con- 
founded with the Wabash, 17 ; ap- 
proach by the Alleghany, 17 ; modem 
map of the basin, 19 ; maps, 28, 29, 
34, 291, 328; early reports of Eng- 



lish settlers, 35 ; observed by Gravier, 
61; called Akansea, 61; its northern 
banks, W ; the country sought by 
Canada and Louisiana, 66 ; claimed by 
the English, (56 ; burning springs, 67 ; 
English trade, 71 ; sometimes niajjped 
as a separate stream from the Wa- 
bash, 78 ; called St. Jerome, 85 ; 
called Alleghany, 119; buffalo com- 
mon, 120 ; English traders, 125, 249 ; 
called Wabash, 143 ; Charlevoix 
praises its fertility, 148 ; the French 
approach, 149 ; its mouth observed by 
Charlevoix, 150 ; project of Galisson- 
ni^re to settle peasants thereon, 225 ; 
Franklin's prophecy, 234 ; Indians, 
234 ; Evans's map, 244, 245 ; the 
straight reach, 245 ; Indian trails, 247 ; 
Delaware village at the forks, 252; 
the tribes much mixed, 253 ; traders' 
routes, 278 ; forks of, 279, 296 ; the 
Indians to be trusted, 289 ; map of its 
rapids, 297 ; struggle for the forks, 
300 ; advantages of the position, 300 ; 
character of the river, 300 ; the 
French p\irpose to occupy, 302 ; Gist's 
re-survey, 304, 306, 336 ; rapids, 304, 
377 ; elephant's bones found, 304 ; in 
Bellin's map, 306 ; stockade begun at 
the forks, 309 ; captured by the 
French, 310 ; English factories on the 
tributaries, 328 ; priority on its banks 
claimed by the French, 332 ; Indians 
described on Mitchell's map. 333; 
Evans's proposal to visit it, 336 ; his 
account of it, 336 ; visited by Colonel 
Wood and Captain Bolt, 421 ; French 
residents, 432 ; surveyed by Croghan, 
456. 

Ojibways. See Chippeways. 

Oidmixon on the English claim, 331. 

Oneidas at Caughnawaga, 224. 

Onondagas, 228, 286 ; conference with 
Beauharnois, 177 ; and the French, 
352. 

Orme, Captain, 364. 

Osages, 105, 114; entrapped the Span- 
iards, 141 ; their country, 205, 208. 

Osborne, governor of New York, 343. 

Oswego, occupation suggested by Bello- 
mont, 14; Burnet takes possession, 
126; trade at. 163, 174; diplomacy 
over. 164 ; strengthened, 165 ; getting 
most of the Indian trade, 176 ; in 
danger, ^21 ; reoccupied by the Eng- 
lish, 223 ; feared by the French, 228 ; 
rebuilt of stone, 2.50 ; held by the 
English, 286 ; attack threatened, 286 ; 
reconnoitred by Piquet, 287 ; seized by 
the English, 326 ; tradei-a, 346 ; impor- 
tance of, to the English, 352, 372 ; 
taken, 376, 379 ; treaty with Pontiac> 
445. 



INDEX. 



479 



Otchaga, 194, 195, 

Otoetata, 77. 

Ottagamis. See Outagamis. 

Ottawas, 17, 308 ; near Detroit, 120 ; in 

Ohio, 247, 284, 285 ; numbers, 414. 
Otters (Indians), 211. 
Ouabache, 17. See Wabash. 
Ouachipuanes, 195. 
Ouiatanon, 149 ; Croghan at, 457. 
Ouicapoux, 77. 
Outagamis, 119, 147. See Foxes. 

Pacaud, Jean, 73. 

Padoueas, .j.J, 90, 97, 105, 114, 140, 144 ; 
their country, 208. 

Pako, 195. 

Palairet's map, 97, 426. 

Palatines, 388 • on the Mohawk, 14; in 
New York, 1'2 ; arrive, 125, 120 ; mov- 
ing west, 164 ; leave the Mohawk for 
Pennsylvania, 166. 

Panis (Pawnees), 53, 77, 96, 97, 112, 
114, 139, 140, 142. 

Paris, frenzied under Law's rule, 110; 
treaty of (1763), 420 ; and the trans- 
Mississippi country, 447. 

Parkman, Francis, 202 ; Half Century of 
Conflict, 158 ; on the Iroquois, 330 ; 
estimate of the number of Indians, 
414 ; on the Pontiac war, 435. 

Pascagoulas, 48, 59, 75. 

Patton, Colonel James, 179, 230. 

Pawley, Colonel, 272. 

Pawnees' country, 113, 200, 207, 208, 
425. See Panis. 

Peace River, 8. 

Pedee River, 229. 

Pekitanoiii, 32. 

Pelham, Henry, 220. 

Penicault, 36, 52, 101, 141. 

Penn, Thomas, 239. 

Penn, William, 11. 

Pennsylvania, her frontiers, 127 ; Penn's 
grant, 127 ; traders on the Ohio, 149, 
243 ; Scotch-Irish in, 166 ; Quakers 
outnumbered, 16(5; traders on the 
Alleghany, 167 ; borders- encroached 
upon by the French, 167 ; traders 
complained of, 230 ; become prom- 
inent, 238 ; her Dutch population, 
238 ; traders, 239, 254 ; Evans's 
map (1749), 2.39 ; anti-war assembly, 
242 ; frontiers fortified, 242 ; trails 
from, 243, 300 ; Moravians, 258 ; 
boundary disputes, 279 ; refuses to 
fortify the forks of the Oliio, 280 ; 
York County, 280 ; Cumberland Coun- 
ty, 280 ; still opposing assistance to 
the Indians against the French, 292 ; 
aroused, 302 ; instructed to use force 
against the French, 302 ; assembly 
not to be depended upon, 308 ; popu- 
lation, 338 ; more than half Germans, 



338 ; the Scotch, 338 ; aliens prepon- 
derate, 339 ; assembly uncertain, 341 ; 
at last votes aid for the war, 342 ; 
their bad faith, 3.53; not heljjing 
Braddock, 357 ; the borders after 
Braddock's defeat, 365 ; apathetic 
Quakers, 366 ; assembly votes money, 
36(i ; militia act, 366 ; war with the 
Delawares, 373 ; establishes a line of 
frontier posts, 373 ; Catholics in, 376 ; 
treaty with the Delawares, 380 ; bor- 
ders raided, 387 ; farmers exacting, 
387, 388 ; authorities embarrass Bou- 
quet, -t38. 

Pensacola founded, 10 ; seen by Iber- 
ville, 36 ; by Bienville, 43 ; site, 75, 
449; taken and retaken, 106, 108; 
misplaced in Law's uuip, 107 ; con- 
firmed to Sjmin, 170. 

Peoria, 84. 

Pepperrell, Sir William, at Louisbourg, 
221 ; colonel of the Royal Americans, 
354. 

P^rier, Ren^ Boucher de la, at Lake 
Pepin, 145 ; ordered to repel the Eng- 
lish, 149 ; at New Orleans, 157 ; the 
Natchez war, 188 ; recalled, 190. 

Perrot, 52,78, 118. 

Petroleum, 245. 

Philadelphia, treaty at, 235, 252 ; trails 
from, south, 238, 240. 

Philip II. (Spain), dies, 10. 

Pineda, 6. 

Piankashaws, 119, 246, 293. 

Pickawillany founded, 247, 249, 255, 
284, 329 ; destroyed, 293. See Pick- 
town. 

Picktown. See Pickawillany. 

Pigeon River, 198. 

Pinet, 56. 

Pitt, William, 228 ; in power, 382 ; ap- 
points Abercrombie, 385 ; planning a 
new campaign, 395; the victory at 
Quebec, 403 ; resigns, 417 ; on the 
terms of peace, 418. 

Pittsburgh, 279 ; named, 392. 

Piquet, Abb^, his zeal, 224 ; at La Pre- 
sentation, 225, 287 ; seeking recruits, 
228 ; stirring up the tribes, 250 ; his 
character, 287 ; fearing spies, 343. 

Platte River, 32, 200. 

Pocahontas, 325. 

Point Couple, 268. 

Pomeroy, Seth, 369. 

Pompadour, 228. 

Pontchartrain and the Compagnie des 
Indes, 73 ; and Cadillac, 84. 

Pontiac at Duquesne, 361 ; did he meet 
Rogers ? 406 ; his conspiracy, 414, 
434 ; map, 43.5-437 ; in council, 434 ; 
at the Maumee rapids, 442 ; disposed 
to peace, 456 ; meets Croghan, 457 ; 
his character, 457. 



480 



INDEX. 



Popple, his great map, 112, 183; his 
lake with east and west outlets, 112, 
113 ; on the English claim, 331. 

Port Royal (Acadia), attacked, 123. 

Portages, hetween the St. Lawrence and 
Mississippi basins, 22 ; of the Erie 
basin, 261. 

Post, C. F., sent to the Ohio Indians, 
389 ; sent to the Senecas, 397 ; Mora- 
vian missionary, 445. 

Potomac River portages, 18 ; supposed 
source, 127 ; map, 233 ; sources, 283 ; 
its branches mapped, 313. 

Pottawattamies, 84, 119, 434. 

Pouchot, Mimoire, etc. , 375 ; at Niagara, 
398. 

Poverty Point, 62. 

Powell's Valley, 230. 

Powder River Mountains, 202. 

Pownall, Thomas, map, 119; Topograph- 
ical Description of North America, 282 ; 
improves Evans's map, 304 ; Admin- 
istration of the Colonies, 332 ; plan of 
barrier colonies, 348 ; urges a strong 
attack on Canada, 385 ; on the source 
of the Mississippi, 424. 

Pragmatic sanction, 220. 

Prairie du Rocher, 268. 

Presqu' Isle, 30 ; route, 286, 297-300 ; 
299, its position, 375 ; taken, 438. 

Prideaux, at Niagara, 398. 

Puants, Baye des, 23, 116. 

Putnam, Israel, 369. 

Quadruple alliance, 106. 

Quarry, Colonel, 69, 71. 

Quatrefages, on Moncacht-Ap^, 214. 

Quebec, merchants at, 122; in danger, 
221, 223; attacked by Wolfe, 396; 
surrendered, 401 ; its bounds under 
the proclamation (1763), 428. 

Quebec Bill, 330. _ 

Queen Alliquipa, 359. 

Quinipissas, 40. 

Quinquempoix, 108-110. 

Quivira, 97. See Gran Quivira. 

Raimond, 92. See Raymond. 

Rainy Lake, 198. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 316. 

Ramezay, 401. 

Randolph, Peter, 271. 

Rapidan River, 129. 

Rappahannock River, 181. 

Raudot, 86, HI. 

Raymond, Sieur, 249. 

Red Lake, 9. 

Red River, 40 ; mapped, 7, 95, 153 ; and 
the Spaniards, 10 ; its basin, 89, 95 ; 
explored by St. Denis, 90, 92 ; Natchi- 
toches occupied, 94 ; explored by La 
Harpe, 96 ; mouth, 450. 

Red River of the North, 8,30,80,81,82, 



97, 195 ; connected with the Missis- 
sippi, 426. 

Red Stone Creek, 311, 358, 446. 

Remonville, De, 33. 

Renard, 141. 

Renault, P. F., 122. 

Rice culture, 18, 192 ; in Louisiana, 
271. 

Richebourg, 101. 

Rigaud threatens Fort William Henry, 
382. 

Rio Grande del Norte, 10, 92, 138. 

River of the West, suspected, 78, 80, 97, 
112, 114, 136, 138, 142, 193, 207, 208, 
424, 426, 427, 429; found by Mon- 
cacht-Ap^, 211 ; mapped, 215. 

Rives, William C, 278. 

Riviere aux bceufs, 300. 

Riviere Longue of Lahontan, 82 ; dis- 
credited, 112. See Lahontan. 

Roanoke Island, 8, 316. 

Roanoke River, 292. 

Roberts, English cartographer, 426. 

Rocky Mountains, map, 31 ; called 
"Mountains of Bright Stones," 97, 
195,203; "Montagues des Roches," 
206. 

Rogers, Robert, sent west by Amherst, 
405 ; confronts Pontiac, 406 ; Concise 
Account, 40(5, 424 ; on the sources of 
the Mississippi, 424. 

Roggeveen, Burning Fen, 39. 

Rollo, Lord, 404. 

Romer, Colonel, 66. 

Ross, Lieutenant, map of Mississippi 
River, 450, 460. 

Royce, C C, 16. 

Rum and western progress, 172. 

Russell, James, Map of the Middle States, 
261. 

Ryswick, treaty of, 2, 33, 330, 334. 

St. Ange, Louis, on the Mississippi, 
150 ; at Vincennes, 177 ; at Fort 
Chartres, 444, 454, 456, 457 ; gives it 
up, 457. 

St. Anthony's Falls, 5. 

St. Augustine, 8, 143 ; attacked by Ogle- 
thorpe, 186. 

St. Barbe, mines, 107, 185. 

St. Bernard's Bay, 74. 

St. Catharine's, 450. 

St. Cosme, 43, 54, 62. 

St. Denis, Juchereau de, arrives, 48; 
exploits, 56, 64 ; on the Red River, 
90, 92, 192; his route mapped, 93; 
again among the Cenis, 94 ; his char- 
acter, 94. 

St. Jean Baptiste, mission, 92, 93. 

St. Jerome River (Wabash), 85, 119. 

St. Joseph River, 24, 25 ; mission, 84 ; 
portage, 120, 146 ; English flag on, 
457. 



INDEX. 



481 



St. Lawrence Gulf, 2. 

St.. Louis, founded, 433 ; position, 460 ; 
new settlers, 462. 

St. Louis Bay (St. Bernard), 74. 

St. Louis River, 22. 

St. Liisson, 3, 72. 

St. Peter River, 9, 32, 52, 140. 

St. Philip, 458, 460, 461. 

St. Philippe, 268. 

St. Pierre, Legardeurde, at Lake Pepin, 
194 ; follows up V^rendrye's quest, 
204, 206 ; his journal, 206 ; at Quebec, 
210 ; sent to the Ohio, 303 ; receives 
Washington, 307. 

St. Pierre Island, 420. 

St. Pierre River (Missouri), 85. 

Ste. Foy, battle, 402, 403. 

Ste. Genevieve, 268, 459, 460. 

Salley, Peter John, 319. 

Sailing-, John, 168, 179. 

Salmon, Thomas, Observations, 177, 182, 
185. 

Salt works on the Mississippi, 459-461. 

San Antonio, Texas, 10. 

Sandusky, 30, 244, 247 ; portage, 120 ; 
English at, 248; position, 261, 301, 
329 ; a chief centre of Indian influ- 
ence, 282 ; in the Pontiac war, 435. 

Sanson, maps, 26, 74. 

Santa F^, 138; its position, 139; Mal- 
let at, 200. 

Sargeant, missionary, 242. 

Saskatchewan River, 8, 201, 206. 

Sauks, 74, 118, 264. 

Sault Ste. Marie, 361 ; abandoned, 440. 

Saunders, Admiral, 396, 400 ; carries 
Wolfe's body to England, 401. 

Saussier, 268. 

Sauvole, 42, 48 ; died, 62. 

Sayer and Jefferys' maps, 117 ; repro- 
duce Danville's North America, 147. 

Scalp Point, 174. 

Schenck, 74, 78. 

Schuyler, governor of New York, 125 ; 
takes Mohawks to England, 124. 

Scioto River, 19, 244 ; portage, 30 ; differ- 
ent surveys, 30.5. 

Scotch in America, 12 ; in Pennsylvania, 
338. 

Scotch-Irish in America, 12 ; in Penn- 
sylvania, 126 ; in Maine, 126 ; large 
arrivals. 160 ; in Virginia, 178, 180. 

Scull, William, Map of Pennsylvania, 
439. 

Sea of the West, 30, 204, 214 ; the search 
for, 193 ; mapped, 320. 

Sea-to-sea charters, 3. See England. 

Seigneuries on Lake Champlain, 175. 

Seminoles, 20. 

Senecas, 15, .58, 125 ; and the French, 
286, 352; and the Catawbas, 287: 
make peace with the Miamis, 70 ; neu- 
tral, 223 ; object to settlers on the 



Juniata, 256; aggressive, 413; and 
the Pontiac war, 434 ; uneasy, 440 ; 
make peace, 441. 

Senex, John, and the Lahontan story, 
80 ; his Map of North America, 104, 
116 ; on the Ohio region, 148 ; his 
maps, 163. 

Serigny, 63. 

Sewall, Samuel, 11. 

Shaler, Prof. N. S., 12. 

Shamokin, 18, 175, 239, 241, 345, 346 ; 
threatened, 365, 380 ; fort built, 373. 

Shanopin's town, 359. 

Sharpe, Governor, taking courage, 340 ; 
exercising military control, 353 ; sends 
out scouts, 376. 

Shartel, 248. 

Shawnees, marauders, 15, 354 ; in Ohio, 
16, 148, 149; vagrants, 16; French 
trade with, 87 ; in the Virginia valley, 
128 ; called Chaouanons, 143 ; their 
temper, 175 ; petticoated, 175 ; visit- 
ing the French, 176 ; conquered by 
the Iroquois, 175, 234, 327, 333; 
driven by Delawares, 239 ; sought by 
the French, 246, 308 ; join them, 248 ; 
their villages, 255 ; position, 263 ; in 
the Lower Shawnee town, 244, 288, 
290, 304 their country, 328 ; rupture 
with, ,341 ; attacked by Lewis, 377 ; 
leave the region south of the Ohio, 444 ; 
holding out in the Pontiac war, 444. 

Shea, J. G., 62. 

Shenandoah River, 130 ; first settlers 
on, 178 ; mapped, 181 ; raided, 305. 

Sherman's Creek, 258. 

Shikellimy, 239 ; his cabin, 240. 

Shining Mountains, 426. See Rocky 
Mountains. 

Ship Island, .36, 59, 75, 423, 448. 

Shippenburg, 240. 

Shirley, William, governor of Massachu- 
setts, 218 ; on the capture of Louis- 
bourg, 221 ; anxious for Boston, 222 ; 
would attack Crown Point, 223 ; at 
Paris, 322 ; unduly suspected of Cath- 
olic sympathies, 343 ; colonel of Royal 
Americans, 354 ; anxious over Brad- 
dock's plans, 360 ; his son killed, 362 ; 
plaiming to attack Niagara, 367 ; rank- 
ing officer on the Continent, 3(57 ; his 
career, 367 ; disagrees with Johnson, 
368 ; gives up the Niagara campaign, 
370 ; commissioned as commander-in- 
chief, 372 ; plans a campaign for 1756, 
372 ; receives Washington in Boston, 
374 ; recalled to England, 378. 

Shute, governor of Massachusetts, 126. 

Siette, De, 144, 145. 

Silver mines, 99, 200. -See Mines. 

Simars de Belle-isle, 94. 

Sinclair, Sir John, 387. 

Sioux, 32, 53, 58, 63, 74, 144 ; at Que- 



482 



INDEX. 



bee, 52; their country, 77, 80, 113, 
195, 197, 205, 208, 215, 425; war with 
the Christineaux, 112 ; tell of a west- 
ern way, 114, 115 ; pestilent, 115, 
118; Charlevoix urges that missions 
be established among them, 138 ; mis- 
sions to, 144 ; at Lake Pepin, 145 ; 
furnish furs, 170 ; trading with, 190 ; 
and the Rainy Lake Lidians, 206 ; 
dangerous, 204. See Dacotahs. 

Six Nations. <S'ee Iroquois. 

Slave trade, 87. 

Slavery, 11. 

Smith, Historical Account, 435. 

Smith, Dr. James, Some Considerations, 
etc., 141. 

Smith, Captain John, 16. 

Snake Indians, 202 ; their country, 195. 

Snake River, 202 ; map, 31. 

Soto, De, 6, 13, 18, 20, 96, 105. 

Soiiris River, 201. 

South Carolina becomes a royal province, 
135. 

South Sea Company, 87, 161. 

Spaniards in Florida, 1 ; rivals of the 
French, 8 ; protest against French oc- 
cupation of the Gulf shore, 60 ; allies 
of the French, 64 ; on the Missouri, 
80 ; war declared upon (1718), 100 ; 
make jieace (1721), 108, 152 ; trade 
among the Pauls, 139 ; a fatal allure- 
ment to the French, 155 ; approached 
by the French, 200 ; thwarting Eng- 
lish merchants in the West Indies, 
186 ; war with England, 412 ; receive 
Louisiana, 418 ; cede Florida, 420. 

Spanish Armada, 1, 8. 

Spotswood, Governor, 127 ; urging the 
occupation of the Erie coimtry, 120 ; 
ignorant of the French movements, 
128 ; his Knights of the Golden Horse- 
shoe, 129; and the Iroquois, 163. 

Stahlmaker, 319. 

Stair, Earl of, 162. 

Stanwix, General, at Philadelphia, 397. 

Stark, John, 369. 

Staunton (Va.), 179. 

Staunton River, 229. 

Stephen, Adam, 315. 

Stirling, Captain Thomas, leads a force 
west, 457. 

Stobo, 400. 

Stoddard, Colonel, 243. 

Stoddart, Captain, 302. 

Stuart, gains over the Cherokees, 462. 

Sugar, 171,271,418,447. 

Sugar Loaf Mountain, 128. 

Sunbury (Pa.), 365. 

Surgferes, Chevalier de, 36, 42. 

Susquehanna Company, 346. 

Susquehanna River, an approach \o the 
Alleghany, 18; portages, 127; forks 
of, 239 ; map, 240 ; Great Island, 243 ; 



and the Iroquois, 326 ; tribes of, 333 ; 

map, 345. 
Swift Run Gap, 129. 
Swiss in Virginia, 72 ; in Carolina, 132 ; 

in Louisiana, 154. 

Taensas Lake, 5, 450 ; mapped, 7 ; In- 
dians, 40, 43, 56, 95. 

Tallapoosa River, 86. 

Tanneries, 71. 

Tartan inscriptions, 203. 

Tawixtwi, 261, 284, 305. 

Teedyuscung, 341, 34(3; defiant, 373; 
brought over to the English, 379, 382, 
387, 389. 

TeUico River, 272. 

Tennessee River, 16, 19, 20, 132, 143 ; 
valley, 167 ; map, 272, 273. 

Texas, occupied by Spain, 10 ; disputed 
by the French, 92, 96 ; coast, 74. 

Thomassy, Geologic de la Louisiane, 91. 

Thomson, Charles, his Enquiry, etc., 341 ; 
his map, 345. 

Thoyago, 217. 

Ticonderoga, attacked by Abercrombie, 
386. 

Timber trade in Louisiana, 192. 

Timberlake, Lieutenant, 412 ; map of 
Cherokee country, 270. 

Tintons, 77. 

Tionontatecaga, 131, 143. 

Tobacco in Louisiana, 271 ; trade, 171, 
192 ; culture, 445. 

Tom's town, 437. 

Tombigbee River, 41, 190 ; French at, 
264, 268, 269. 

Tonacaras, 114. 

Toner, Dr., edits Washington's journals, 
310. 

Tonicas, 7, 40, 43, 56, 62, 64, 95, 1.53, 4.50, 
4.54 ; attacked by the Natchez, 188. 

Tonty, Henri de, at his Rock, 21 ; in the 
valley, 33 ; his journal, 33 ; on the 
river, 38, 40, 42 ; his letter found, 42 ; 
his popularity, 43 ; his route to Biloxi, 
50 ; reaches Fort liaboulaye, 52 ; ac- 
companies Iberville, 56 ; at Mobile, 
(i3 ; with Bienville, 64 ; dies, 64. 

Tooley's Creek, 169, 231. 

Toronto, 223, 287 ; site occupied, 126. 

Toulouse, Count of, 136. 

Townshend, Charles, 294. 

Townshend, General, 396. 

Trent, Captain William, 280 ; colonel at 
Logstown, 293 ; sent to the Miamis, 
293 ; at the forks of the Ohio, 303, 309. 

Turgot. I(i2. 

Turtle Creek, 359. 

Turtle Mountain, 200. 

Tuscarawas Creek, 445. 

Tuscarora hills, 240. 

Tuscaroras, 20, 132, 134, 245, 437 ; join 
the Iroquois confederacy, 88. 



INDEX. 



483 



Twightwees, 243, 289, 295, 413 ; French 
among', 341 ; surrenders English prison- 
ers, 457. 

Ulloa, reaches Louisiana, 454. 

Unicorns, 114. 

Urban, Pope, alleged buU, 218. 

Urdinola, F. de, 10. 

Ursuliues in New Orleans, 158. 

Utrecht, treaty, 85, 87, 160, 165 ; pro- 
claimed, 88; war to uphold it (1718), 
106 ; affecting the Iroquois, 124, 234 ; 
on the Indian trade, 165 ; concession 
of the English, 322 ; and French, 331 ; 
the right to trade with the Indians, 
332 ; rights on the Ohio, 334. 

Valverde, 114. 

Van Braam, Jacob, 315. 

Van Dam, liip, 174. 

Vander Aa, 115 ; on the source of the 
Mississippi, 424— 42(5. 

Vanmeter grants, 178. 

Varennes. See V^rendrye. 

Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, 68- 
71, 73 ; points out a way to the west, 
11.5; disjjutes with Boisbriant, 148; 
attacking the New England frontiers, 
164 ; dies, 164 ; in Louisiana, 259 ; his 
court at New Orleans, 260 ; in Que- 
bec, 368 ; provisions Duquesne, 377 ; 
thwarts Montcalm, 396 ; flies from 
Quebec, 401 ; at Montreal, 403. 

Vaugondy on the Mississippi soiu'ces, 
204 ; Amerique Septentrionale, 205. 

Venango, 298 ; Washington at, 306 ; 
Fort Machault, 311 ; burnt, 398 ; taken, 
438. See Fort Machault. 

V^rendrye, Sieur de, his career, 193 ; 
position of his forts, 195 ; his equip- 
ment, 198 ; his journal, 201 ; in debt, 
201 ; his sous, 203 ; his last years, 203 ; 
dies, 204. 

Vernon, Admiral, 218. 

Verrazano, his voyage, 1, 316, 421 ; his 
sea, 3. 

Vestal's Gap, 233. 

Vetch, Samuel, 71, 123. 

VUliers, Chevalier de, attacks Washing- 
ton, 314, 315. 

Villiers, Neyon de, 454. 

Vincennes (town), 26, 84, 118, 149, 177, 
246 ; population, 456. 

Vincennes, Monsieur, 149. 

Virginia, traders among the Cherokees 
20 ; pushing toward the Alleghanies 
66 ; Spotswood, governor, 127 ; val- 
ley of Virginia, 177 ; looked into, 128 
Germans, 128, 129 ; trade with Cher- 
okees, 168 ; trails from, 168, 169 
Cherokees tramp through the valley, 
ISO ; Keith's map, 181 ; new western 
countries, 182 ; her people on the Ohio, 



182; grants in the valley, 177, 229; 
roads, 229 ; population, 128, 230, 374 ; 
the Carolina line, 232 ; claims land 
against the Iroquois, 236 ; her de- 
mands at Lancaster, 238 ; path to the 
Cherokees, 266 ; Carolina line mapped, 
278 ; disputes over bounds, 180, 279 ; 
Augusta County, 279 ; suffered from 
the counter-raids of Iroquois and Ca- 
tawbas, 287 ; active on the Ohio, 307 ; 
Dinwiddie and the burgesses, 308 ; 
votes £ 10,000, 309 ; most western set- 
tlement, 319 ; early charter limits, 127, 
319-321 ; later limits, 322 ; Scotch set- 
tlers, 338 ; burgesses vote money, 309, 
340 ; support Braddoek, 357 ; fron- 
tiers threatened. 373 ; stockades on 
the frontiers, 374 ; discontent with 
Bouquet, 410 ; emigration south, 445. 
Voltaire, 228. 

Wabash River, 17, 19 ; portage, 26 ; 
called St. Jerome, 85, 329 ; Fort Oui- 
atanon, 120, 246 ; Indians warned 
by the French against the English 
traders, 128 ; French and English dis- 
pute over, 148, 158 ; fort needed, 149 ; 
called Overbachee, 171 ; English trad- 
ers on, 149, 243 ; French grants, 286 ; 
mapped, 333 ; French remaining, 462. 

Walker, Sir Hovenden, his failure in the 
St. Lawrence, 123. 

Walker, Dr. Thomas, and the western 
quest, 216; has grants beyond the 
mountains, 230 ; crosses the moun- 
tains, 277 ; his journal, 278 ; his set- 
tlement, 281, 295, 328, 416; on the 
Tennessee, 41 1. 

Walker's Creek, 277. 

Walking Purchase, 177, 239, 242. 

Walpole, Sir Robert, convention with 
Spain, 186. 

Ward, Ensign, 111, 310. 

Warren, Sir Peter, 221, 368. 

Washington, George, surveying for Lord 
Fairfax, 180, 232, 266 ; sent by Din- 
widdie to the French, 303 ; his jour- 
nal and map, 306 ; at Le Bosuf , 307 ; 
lieutenant-colonel, 309 ; his letters 
revised, 309 ; informed by Gist of a 
French force, 312 ; succeeds Fry in 
command, 312 ; at Fort Necessity, 314 ; 
his capitulation, 314, 339 ; with Brad- 
dock, 357 ; his horse killed, 362 ; 
commands in the valley of Virginia, 
365 ; building stockades on the fron- 
tiers, 374 ; in Boston, 374 ; considting 
in Philadelphia, 374 ; and Forbes's 
route, 388 ; and the proclamation 
(1763), 4.30; selecting lands on the 
Ohio, 446. 

Washita River, 187. 

Watauga River, 410. 



484 



INDEX. 



Waterford, PennsTlvania, 300. 

Watkins Ferry. 233, 278. 

Weas, 240. 

Weiser, Conrad, on the Mohawk, 125 ; in 
Pennsylvania, 166 ; mediator, 185 ; on 
the Ohio (1748), 224 ; at the Lancas- 
ter treaty, 236 ; at Logstown, 248 ; 
his character, 250 ; on the Catawbas, 
206 ; obser\dug the Senecas, 286 ; the 
Ohio Indians, 342 ; not confident iu 
the Indian defection, 353 ; watching 
the frontiers, 365 ; dies, 408. 

Welch, Colonel, explorations, 21, 46, 47. 

Wells. Edward, his maps, 13, 76. 

Wendell, Jacob, 162. 

West Inches, sugar islands, 171. 

Wheat in Illinois, 447. 

White Woman's Creek, 437. » 

Whitefield and barrier colonies, 348. 

Whiting, Nathan, 369. 

Wliitney, Josiah D., 202. 

William, king of England, dies, 68. 

William's Ferry, 233, 238. 

William's Gap, 233. 

Williams, Ephraim, 369. 

Will's Creek, 112, 243; trail from, 279; 
map, 358. 

Winchester (Va.), 178,374. 

Winnebagoes, 22, 11.5. 

Winslow, General John, 378. 

Winterbotham, America, 260. 

Wisconsin River, misconceived, 22 ; port- 
age, 21, 29, 107, 145. 



Wolcott, Roger, 344. 

Wolfe, General James, at Louisbourg, 
396 ; before Quebec, 397, 398 ; on the 
Plains of Abraham, 400; killed, 401. 

Wood, Colonel Abraham, his expedition, 
229 ; in the Ohio country, 421 ; on the 
Mississippi, 452. 

Wood, Colonel James, 230. 

Wood's Gap, 229. 

Woodstock (Va.), 179. 

Wyandots, 17, 239 ; their villages, 244, 
247, 255 ; divided between French 
and English, 282 ; branch of Hurons, 
285 ; their country, 305 ; surly, 412. 
See Hurons. 

Wyoming, 241, 258, 345; Connecticut 
claims, 346, 347. 

Yadkin River, 229,331. 

Yamassees, 20, 132 ; war, 133. • 

Yazoo Indians, 187, 210, 213. 

Yazoo River, 41, 44, 153. 

Yellowstone River, divide, 31, 202. 

York, Samuel, 68. 

York (Pa.), 240. 

Youghiogheny River, 279, 292 ; map, 

358, 359, 439. 
Young, an Englishman, beyond the 

Mississippi, 133. 

Zeisberger, 239. 
Zenger, 12.5. 
Zinzendorf , 258. 



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